Gifted
by TVH Bookfan
Summary: Young Rose Tyler was born with rare abilities. She is telekinetic, has the ability to read minds, sees the past and the future, and can see creatures that others don't believe exist.Further complicating things are her loving yet deeply troubled mother Jackie, getting bullied, and the presence of an "imaginary" friend named John Smith.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone. This is my first Doctor Who fanfic. It will be based off the novels Carrie and The Shining, so if you have any questions about what I'm writing or anything I change about the characters, feel free to ask. I hope you all enjoy this story.**

 **Disclaimer: I own none of the works mentioned above.**

 **Part One: The Dangerous Power of Innocence**

 **London, 1992**

In a warm day in September, as many parents stood outside of Rockwell Primary School and embraced their excited children as they were about to start a new school year, one young woman named Jackie Tyler remained in the safety of her used car as she was about to let her five- year-old daughter Rose off to start school.

Jackie wore a dark blue blouse, black trousers, dark sunglasses that fully concealed her blue eyes, and had her blonde hair tied up into a sloppy ponytail. She reserved her weary smile for her daughter, but maintained a serious expression as she scanned all the adults who were gathered around the school, trying to see if there was anyone she knew there or if anyone was starting in at her with those nosy expressions which she despised.

Rose, on the other hand, was all smiles and giggles, as she was just as excited as all the children outside, and had been begging her mother to get out of the car with her so they she could give her a proper goodbye. Since her mother kept declining her request, she devoted her time to having one last chat with her imaginary friend, whom she liked to call John Smith.

"Mummy, John Smith says that all parents should step out of the car when they say goodbye to their kids on their first day of school just to be on the safe side," Rose once again said in a last attempt to convince her mother. Jackie had already turned off the radio, which kept playing the same popular dance music which Rose loved but which Jackie couldn't stand, which was an early sign for the child that she wasn't in a good mood, but being so young, she chose to ignore this and remain cheerful.

Jackie laughed. "Well then, tell John Smith that he probably doesn't believe in full independence for big girls. You're growing up more every day, Rosie, and big girls don't need to have their mothers taking them everywhere."

"But Mummy…"

"That's enough, sweetheart. You're getting out of this car on your own and that's final. One day, you'll thank me for this."

Rose sighed, but she understood that this would be her mother's final word on the matter. She reached out from the back seat and gave her mother a kiss in the cheek, and Jackie managed to put her arms around her daughter's shoulders.

"I love you, Mummy."

"I love you too, Rose. Good luck in school, and make sure that you always behave."

"John Smith says that he cares deeply about you as well."

"Tell John Smith that I appreciate it, but that he should leave you alone while you're at school. In here, not all kids are as nice as the ones you met at nursery school."

Rose nodded. Then she slowly opened the door and took her time as she stepped out. She gave her mother a slightly sad glance before she finally headed off to the school.

Jackie sighed, removed her sunglasses, and covered her face with her hand. There were so many things she wished she could do for Rose, as well as many others which she wanted to do for herself. If it wasn't stepping out of the car with her, then it was getting herself a new car. If it wasn't being able to find friends for Rose outside of her nursery school class, then it was trying to get away from her annoying coworkers at the preschool where she worked as an aid (which was where Rose had attended as well). If it wasn't finally getting that novel which she'd been working on for the past year published, then it was being able to get her act together and quit drinking for good. If it wasn't trying to understand why Rose was so intuitive, then it was wishing that Pete were alive again.

But of course, she probably wasn't going to get any of this anytime soon.

 **...**

Looking around her, it wasn't hard for Rose to see why her mother didn't want to step out of the car. A lot of the kids out there had both their mummies and daddies with them, and many of them were smiling and laughing as they tried to say goodbye. Although some looked a little sad, none of them seemed to show any serious signs of what her mummy called stress. Even the mummies that were crying were chuckling and saying things like "Oh my, Roger! Can't you believe how fast Max is growing up?"

Rose didn't have a father, since her mummy told her that he had died not long after she was born, and although her mummy laughed and smiled quite often, it was also very common for her to get stressed, and when this happened, she would often yell at other people, including Rose, and get into a rage, often hurting other people, or she would stay alone for hours in a room and cry, and for some reason, this scared Rose more than when she got angry.

One of the causes behind this stress seemed to occur when she drank that liquid that came from either bottles or cans which she called alcohol. Rose always wondered how a drink could cause someone to get such strong feelings, and for that matter, why her mummy wanted it if it caused her so much problems. How many of the grownups here could possibly have the same problems as her mummy, she kept thinking to herself, and were there any kids here who both loved and feared their parents, just as she sometimes did?

That was when the chorus of voices in her head began:

 _I work eight hours a week, and what's my reward? A bloody man who can never speak to me or spend any bloody time with the kids!_

 _Where's my credit card? I swear I put it in my wallet as soon as I left home, but I now I can't find it anywhere! Why do I have to be so forgetful?_

 _A second year student. It feels like just yesterday that I was holding Max in my arms as I walked out of the hospital. Why is it that time can't slow down once in a while and let us have our kids as they are now?_

 _Everything changes so fast. I used to run around playing ball with my friends and had everything that was necessary for school and work. Now with all these new gadgets, kids are spending more time indoors with their movies and video games, and working folks are more behind the times than ever._

It was so strange. Rose never heard anybody she knew saying that they could hear what other people were thinking in their own minds, and yet she could hear it all the time. The friend which her mother thought was imaginary, John Smith, was the person whose voice she heard the most often, usually to either warn her about something or reassure her that everything was okay. He'd spoken to her in the car, advising her to get her mother to go out with her, and now Rose could feel that he was trying to reach her again:

 _Rose, get away from there!_

 _John Smith, you promised to stay away from me during school. Mummy says you have to._

 _Your mummy should have listened to my advice. Now you're about to walk into trouble. Run away now._

 _Why, John Smith? Can't you explain?_

"Hey you over there! Who are you talking to?" It was the kid whose name was Max.

"I think she's crazy," said another boy, who was one of Max's companions.

It didn't take long for Rose to realize that they were bullies. She usually managed to speak to John Smith inside her head when she was with anyone other than mummy, but it got out of hand sometimes and other people would hear her, believing that she was just talking to herself, and therefore, thinking she was crazy.

There were now four boys gathered around her, and nearly all the parents were leaving.

"Let's get her!" the tallest one declared, and one of them got a hold of one of her pigtails.

 _Rose, run!_

She took off, with the red rubber band that tied up part of her hair coming off. A crowd of kids was now gathered, and they were all laughing and pointing at her, shouting "Get her! Get her!"

As she was running, she turned around to get a glimpse of the bullies, and one of them seemed as if he was being shoved, even though no one was next to him. He screamed as he was knocked to the ground, landing on mud and getting his school uniform all dirty. Some of the kids were frightened by this and left the scene, but many others stayed, waiting to see Rose's fate.

Then the tallest one came down. One of his shoelaces got untied and he stepped on it, resulting in him landing on the sidewalk. His pants ripped at the part covering his right knee, which started bleeding very badly.

The other two, which included Max and his first companion, finally caught up to Rose. Max got a hold on her remaining pigtail, and his friend grabbed her by the collar of her white school shirt.

"You thought you could run away from us, you crazy girl?" Max asked in a menacing tone.

"Crazy people don't have any friends at this school," Max's friend said, forming his right hand into a fist.

This was it. There was no way Rose could get away...

"Hey! Leave her alone!" A tall dark boy, who had been a part of the crowd, had stepped up and gotten a hold of both Max and his friend. He punched Max twice on the head, causing his eye to turn black and his nose to bleed. He gave up, crying as he ran away. Then he shoved Max's friend. He was not hurt, but was completely terrified. The boy who rescued Rose then shouted out, "If any of you try to hurt that girl again, I'll get you again, and that is a promise!" The crowd which surrounded them was left speechless.

He then walked up to Rose, who was kneeling on the grass with her blonde hair looking very unruly and her school uniform all covered in dirt. "Are you all right?" he asked her as he helped her get up.

"I think so. Thanks for saving me. My name is Rose Tyler," Rose replied in a soft voice. She was starting to get a headache, and her face was red on account of her fear, but she managed to avoid crying, which she took as a sign that she was going to be able to handle this, and even she couldn't, this boy might be able to help her again.

"My name is Smith. Mickey Smith, and I'll be looking out for you for now on, " the boy replied in a voice that reminded Rose of the princes that appeared in many of her favorite movies, which she saw as another good sign. He and Rose held hands as they walked into the building, with many other students watching them in wonder.

And Mickey would always keep his promise to Rose.


	2. Chapter 2

**A special thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favored this story.**

 **I said before that the Doctor will appear in his eighth form, but he's actually supposed to be in what I can only call a state of limbo between 1989 and the events of the 1996 movie, appearing only through the minds of other people. As a result, he'll mainly appear in his seventh form, but also through other forms for reasons which will be explained later on in the story. Also, the reason he's called John Smith is because Rose is a young child at this point, so simply calling himself "The Doctor" would cause her to feel confused about who he is, and therefore, she wouldn't be able to trust him.**

 **Enjoy this next chapter.**

When Jackie finally did set foot out of the car, she felt as if she had just stripped naked in front of a large crowd, even with her sunglasses still on. Her coworkers, some who were already standing in the corner of the building with their mindless gossip going on with little shame, immediately turned around and aimed their sharp, judgmental eyes in her direction. One woman, Lisa Holmes, who had dyed blonde hair and makeup that made her look more like a creature in a horror film than the winner of Miss Universe, let out a small chuckle. Another, Clarice Johnson, who still wore her light brown hair in that messy, overly curly eighties style, whispered something to a new worker whom Jackie didn't know.

There was no need for anyone to tell her: they nearly all despised her. They all knew that her life was difficult, that she dealt with her problems by either writing or drinking. They knew she would never have another man in her life, and that the best luck she'd have as a writer would be the freelancing she did for minor newspapers and magazines that only local residents of London and maybe the suburbs would ever read. But worst of all, they were fully aware of how deeply she cared about Rose. As far as they were concerned, Jackie was an unfit mother, despite the fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her job, including avoiding drinking before work and avoiding saying the first thing that came to her mind when they bothered her. The pay wasn't the best, but the head of the nursery school, Karen Andrews, told her that if she continued doing well that she would help her pay for additional studies that would prepare her to be a certified instructor. Was this what she wanted? Not necessarily, but she wanted what was best for Rose above all else.

"Jackie! How are you?"

It was Hannah Lewis, Jackie's only friend at Rolling Meadows Nursery School. She had just earned her teaching degree, so she was going to be enjoying a raise and was planning to travel to the states during winter holidays. She had long, straight brown hair, and wore a white shirt and a long red skirt. Hannah sometimes drank with Jackie, but unlike her, she wasn't an alcoholic, limiting herself to one glass of beer or wine during social gatherings. She continued to get support from her upper middle class parents, and since they were Mormons, they would not tolerate someone with a drinking problem, and they were already suspicious of the things she did during her free time.

"I'm fine, Hannah. I just dropped Rose off for her first day of school."

"That's wonderful! Rose is certainly a child you can never forget meeting. Someone as smart and sweet as she is should have no trouble succeeding in school."

Jackie could not forget the look on Rose's face as she stepped out of the car. It was that same one she saw as she'd find herself drinking three cans of beer, when she arrived home late at night, when she lost her temper, or whenever Rose suspected that something was going wrong. As a matter of fact, the first time she saw that expression on her face was when she was about to get back home from the hospital and confront her parents with the fact that she had decided to keep her baby. Rose was only a week old, but that look on her face made her seem much older: a mixture of sorrow, fear, and empathy that was obvious just by looking into her eyes.

She had been crying hysterically when the time for Jackie to leave was about to come, and the doctors kept trying to see what was wrong but found nothing, so at the end they advised Jackie to come back if there were any problems. After she'd seen that look for the first time, which was when she was about to walk into the apartment building where her parents lived, she opened the door, prepared to face whatever fate had in store for her. And it was awful. Her mother had called her every horrible name in the book, declared that she wanted nothing to do with her anymore, and that if she was to be reduced to scum on the street, she would not care. After that, she just slammed the door in Jackie's face, and that was the last time she'd heard from her family. And throughout the whole time, that look on Rose's face had remained as it was.

"Jackie? Is everything all right?" Hannah asked with concern.

"Yes. I'm just feeling a little tired right now."

After that incident, Pete had promised to take care of her and Rose. They had married a month before Jackie had given birth, and despite being deeply upset about being rejected by her mother, she had seen it coming. Neither one of her parents had ever cared about her. They were both alcoholics who barely managed to keep a job. Most of her childhood memories consisted of her parents screaming and sometimes even hitting each other at the living room or kitchen, and the various punishments she was submitted to. She spend a lot of time in her room, drowning out the noise her parents made by turning on her small radio and then spending hours either reading or writing, going to become a good student. She'd managed to successfully complete high school before her pregnancy, and she even had plans to attend university part- time as an English major after Rose turned a year old.

But exactly a year after Rose's birth, Pete was hit by a car as he crossed the road. He was reported dead upon arrival at the hospital, and with that, all of Jackie's plans for the future went downhill...

"Jackie!"

"I'm sorry, Hannah. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"We must get inside unless we want to get the talk from Karen."

Jackie followed her friend into the small, welcoming building which formed the nursery school. She was fully on her own, and if Rose was to have a good future, she'd have to do things she'd rather avoid. In some ways, this job was only the smallest of her obstacles.

...

So far, school didn't seem like the nice place her mummy had described. Max and the other bullies had complained to the headmistress about Mickey having beaten them, and he, Rose, and some other children caught looking into what had happened were called into the office. However, because the other children were able to back Rose and Mickey's side of the story, Mickey was left off the hook with only a warning. Rose ended up coming in late for class, which was bad enough, and to make matters worse, the other kids in her class had heard things about her being crazy. It got to the point where only her teacher, Ms. Bryan, used her name. All the other kids were calling her nuts, looney, or just the crazy girl. One girl even managed to hear something about John Smith, and had asked, "Hey Looney, is John Smith planning to take you to America? Because crazy girls can't stay in this country!"

She was relieved to see Mickey standing near the entrance when she got out. He was a year above Rose, so they couldn't see each other during class.

"How was class, Rose?" he asked, looking as if he expected what she had to say.

"Awful. All the kids think I'm crazy."

"But you know you're not, so the dumb stuff they say shouldn't bother you," he responded with full confidence in what he was saying.

Rose wished she could believe him. She'd been wondering if she was crazy ever since she first learned the meaning of the word back when she was three, which was the same time when John Smith first appeared to her. It was also around this time that the incident where her mummy gotten angry and broke Rose's arm had occurred. John Smith was always trying to assure her that she was not crazy, that she just had "special abilities", and that her mummy had something called an "addiction". But because some of the things he said to her were confusing, as well as his insistence that she avoid telling anybody about him, Rose often wondered if she just might be that way.

"Mickey!" called a woman driving in a strange green car. As the car came closer to them, Rose saw that she had brown hair that went down to her shoulders, a pale face, and dark eyes.

"Who's that?" Rose asked Mickey.

"That's Sarah Jane Smith, but we're not related. She's a friend of my parents and an investigative journalist." Turning to the woman, he said, "Sarah, this is my new friend Rose Tyler."

Sarah opened up the car's window and smiled at Rose, saying, "Hello, Rose. Any friend of Mickey's is a friend of mine."

After a while, Rose noticed that Sarah couldn't stop staring at her, with her smile soon disappearing. It was as if there was something about her that she found frightening, and soon after that, she noticed that she was wondering, _Could it possible? Am I really meeting another..._

"Miss Smith?" she found herself asking

Then Sarah smiled again and said, "Never mind, dear. I'm just here to pick up Mickey. Did you want to come along with us?"

"No. My babysitter Ella is going to be picking me up."

"Bye, Rose. I'll see you tomorrow!" Mickey said as he stepped into the car.

Sarah looked at her silently for while. Then, as she was closing the window, Rose heard a thought that was clearly directed towards her:

 _See you later, Rose Tyler._


	3. Chapter 3

A slightly isolated area In London, where the usual traffic was limited and a couple of elegant houses dating back to the Victorian era stood in a neat row next to a park where only trees and flowers could be seen, was where Sarah Jane Smith had been living since 1982. Unlike her neighbors, she was neither married nor had any children of her own, yet she always managed to welcome in a couple of close friends from time to time. Today, it was little Mickey Smith, the only son of a couple whose lives she'd saved five years ago by warning them about a plane which later crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing nearly everyone aboard ; a fact which the boy had no idea about.

"So Mickey, can you explain to me about this fight your mother just told me about?" she asked in that tone of voice she used when she attempted to take on the role of a Smith, Mickey's mother, had just called her about a call she got from a hysterical mother who was threatening to press charges because Mickey had beaten up her son Max at school and the headmistress had let him go unpunished. Rachel wasn't taking the threat so seriously, but she was concerned about how Mickey might have done something so reckless. "He's not like that at all, Sarah, and you know him well enough to understand that. If he did do it, talk some sense into that boy, since he should know better!" she'd said on the phone just a while before Sarah started to have this talk with him.

"I had to do it, Sarah! They were trying to hurt Rose," Mickey tried to explain.

"Rose? The girl you introduced me to when I came to pick you up?"

Sarah had not stopped thinking about that girl. It had been years since the last time she had seen someone with whom she could have what she liked to call a "connection of the mind". There were a few people who seemed to have some good sense of what of what you were feeling, as well as some who could correctly guess who was calling them or who was paying an unexpected visit. These people could best be described as intuitive. She almost always sensed this in mothers, including Rachel, and in those who had a high degree of empathy. However, these people were never able to get into the depths of your thoughts and know exactly what you were thinking, word for word, nor were they capable of predicting unexpected events, such as a sudden change to a daily routine or someone's death. All of this was what Sarah was able to do, and what she was able to fully detect in the mind of Rose Tyler.

Sarah Jane had been aware that she had ESP since she was two years old and had started hearing her grandmother calling out to her through her mind. Jane Harris, who was Sarah Jane's maternal grandmother, had been helping raise her and her two sisters, Rebecca and Lucy, ever since their mother had died during the birth of Lucy, the youngest. Their father, Eddie Smith, was a struggling businessman who had suffered from depression and other undiagnosed psychological problems his whole life. He'd done the best he could for his daughters, but he never fully got over the death of his wife and other traumatic experiences from his early life. He had three nervous breakdowns during Sarah's childhood that had required hospitalization, and when at home, he often had to be supported financially by his younger sister Lavinia and several friends.

Because of this and the fact that they were able to share a connection of the mind, Sarah Jane was very close to her grandmother. They would often have full conversations without ever opening their mouths, and whenever anything was wrong with either one of them, the other nearly always detected it and offered the necessary support. There were even times when they managed to use their powers to help other people, sometimes together but more often when they were alone, and half the time, the people they helped would never find out about their ESP. This strong relationship and commitment to using their powers to help anyone in need lasted until Jane's death in 1978, at the age of eighty-eight.

"Yes. Didn't you notice how untidy Rose looked? " Mickey went on.

"Of course, Mickey. Now that I think about it, she didn't look quite well for someone who's just starting school." Without any further inquisition, Sarah already knew that he was telling the full truth. She could see the images in his mind as clearly as if they were part of a film. As she started setting up a plate with the chocolate chip cookies she'd baked earlier and pouring two glasses of iced tea out of a teapot which was a family heirloom, she could see the poor girl being questioned by a group of older boys, and then how they tried to get a hold of her, causing Rose to run in panic.

But what caught Sarah's full attention was the name Rose had softly yet audibly uttered earlier in the vision: _John Smith._

Could it really be him? Was this the same John Smith with whom she'd traveled through time and space from 1979 to 1981? John Smith, alias for a Time Lord known as the Doctor? Although Sarah had first met him face-to-face in 1979, he had been appearing to her in dreams and visions since 1963, when she was twelve years old.

Around that summer, she started having recurring dreams about an old man and his granddaughter , whom always appeared to be lost. In the earliest of these dreams, they just walked around in a wasteland all alone, with the granddaughter, who appeared to be about fifteen, always asking the old man when they were going to go back home. The old man would always respond by saying that they couldn't because it was too difficult. They'd supposedly rebelled against someone, and therefore, could not come back home without putting both their lives at soon learned that the girl's name was Susan, but she couldn't yet figure out the old man's name.

After a while though, Susan appeared on Earth in England as a secondary school student. At times, she knew more about certain subjects than her teachers did, but on other occasions, she would get confused on account of not knowing certain facts which were common knowledge to her classmates. Sarah would often find herself seated right next to her, and she would sometimes try whispering the correct answers to Susan, but of course, just like everyone else in that classroom, she could neither hear nor see Sarah. It was as if she were a ghost.

But it all started getting really intense when Susan's teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who taught science and history, became concerned enough to follow her home from school in order to meet with her grandfather. They ended up stepping into a police box along with her, and all of a sudden, they were all traveling together through time and space through what was really a time machine (or TARDIS, standing for Time and Relative Dimension In Space). The old man referred to himself as the Doctor, without being specific as to what kind of doctor he was supposed to be.

They almost always managed to get themselves into dangerous situations. The first involved cavemen, and then some creatures known as Deleks, followed by many run-ins with aliens, historical figures, and others. At this point, the dreams were so full of action and violence that Sarah would find herself waking up in shock before it was all over, yet the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara were always able to confront those conflicts with little to no harm among themselves.

Sarah would have these dreams on a regular basis for about a year, and then, following several unfortunate circumstances when she was thirteen, they completely stopped. Lilke most dreams people have, all those nightly adventures of the old man and his companions were soon completely forgotten for nearly fifteen years.

By now, Mickey had already started eating the snack she had set up for him, and beside him was K9, the robotic dog which Sarah had gotten as a Christmas present in 1981, several months after she returned to Earth for had come along with a note from the Doctor, explaining that the dog had been a loyal companion to him for the past couple of years, and that he thought he could now help her with her journalism assignments.

Although K9 became the best partner and pet anyone could ask for, at the time he was given to her, Sarah had been deeply upset. Her sister Lucy had died in a train accident three months before, and her father had gone so far as to attempt suicide by overdosing on antidepressants. She thought that if the Doctor had really cared about her, he would have returned to her in person ; he would have located her at the time she'd had the vision of a train collapsing and have told her to take action so she could have saved Lucy. But after these feelings of anger, she started to believe that the real reason he'd given K9 to her was because his time was almost up and he would never be able to say goodbye in any other way without putting her life in danger.

"Mickey, when you see Rose again, tell her that I'd like to invite her to come over here."

"Really? That's great! " he exclaimed, looking up from under the table, where he had started playing with K9. Sarah had told him that the dog was a gift from a scientist, which was half true if one considered the things the Doctor was capable of. "And when should she come over?"

"I'm free all of next week. Let's settle for next Wednesday, all right?"

"Yeah. I'll let her know tomorrow."

Sarah smiled at him. "And one more thing."

"Yes, Sarah?"

"Do try to watch over her whenever you can. I have a feeling that Rose will be having a difficult time with all those children."

"I already promised her that I'd do that, so don't worry about it."

If only she could. If only the innocence of children would be enough to protect them for a lifetime. But of course, the world was harsh, with many dangers which were both visible and invisible. Mickey and Rose were just starting to learn about them, and Rose was soon going to learn more than any child should have to bear at such a young age.

Or perhaps all of this was why John Smith was starting to appear to her: to make it more easier to handle the challenges of being gifted, which was how the Doctor had referred to Sarah at the start of their travels, after she explained her powers and how she believed she might have seen him before. If there was anyone who could handle these kinds of tasks, it was the Doctor.

Of course, Sarah Jane would have to do her part as well, and as always, she was determined to succeed.

 **Updated Author's Note: In the earlier version of this chapter, I wrote that Sarah Jane had traveled with the Doctor from 1974 to 76, which was when the episodes were made. However, when I watched the show Pyramids of Mars (a 1975 episode) , it's said that they're from the year 1980. This timeline dates back to the early UNIT episodes, including The Invasion, which was made in 1969 but is set in 1975. I also change Sarah Jane's age by about two years (making her twelve in 1963) to match with what's shown in TSJA. Sorry about any confusion this may cause, and if you have anymore questions on this, feel free to send me a PM.**

 **That's all for now, and thank you all for reading, reviewing, and following.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Things are about to get a lot more suspenseful and creepy in this chapter, so be prepared.**

At 8:00 PM, two hours later than she'd promised Rose she'd be getting home, Jackie Tyler was still out. In addition to this, she had gotten drunk again, and if it wasn't for Hannah, she would probably had stayed at the bar all night long. As Hannah drove her across the starless night, Jackie was having a meltdown of sorts, moaning as if she were seriously ill as well as crying. Once again, she'd made a big mess out of things. Just where did Rose think she was? Had she had a good first day? Was Ella doing all she could to keep Rose from worrying?

"Hurry up, Hannah! I don't have all night!" she yelled in a voice struck with agony and pain.

"Why didn't you think about this before you drank four glasses of beer, Jackie? You know how much your daughter needs you, and yet you keep up with all these bad habits," Hannah said in a concerned manner which showed little criticism, but which Jackie still hated hearing. Just who did Hannah think she was? She had her family and a well-paying position; everyone at work respected her and listened to what she had to say about the children. Even if she did go on to have six children, as her own parents did, she could not claim to understand how Jackie felt as a parent. Almost none of the women at the nursery school could, because even those who had children of their own had a spouse that fully supported them.

"Couldn't you at least let me get home on my own? You don't realize just how degrading this feels, and making me feel like some wasted teenager is not going to improve anything."

"I couldn't let you get home on your own since you're too drunk. You know perfectly well that you could kill yourself if you were driving." Jackie's car had been left next to the bar despite all her complaints, and Hannah had promised to get it back in the morning and drive her to work.

"Who says I would be driving? I'm perfectly capable of getting around on my own two feet, thank you very much."

"Just fifteen minutes ago, you were vomiting in a dirty bathroom and at the point of fully passing out. The bartender was threatening to kick you out. I had no choice, Jackie. Now please just let me drive."

Jackie could still hear all those men screaming like lunatics over some football game from a foreign country that was being shown on an old television with stolen cable installed. If she hadn't been getting so sick that she'd started groaning and yelling, they would not have noticed her at all. The situation almost reminded her of George Irving at the nursery school.

He was four and a very bright boy who had also been a friend of Rose's the year before. He could already recite the whole alphabet, read picture books, and write his name, while also being very active in games and sports. His parents were successful attorneys who expected nothing but the best from their oldest son, and any suggestions of struggle were completely ignored by them.

However, George had an obvious stutter. When he greeted Jackie this morning, he'd said "Go- Good morning, Mrs. Ty-Tyler. How is Ro-Rose do-doing?" During lessons, it wasn't noticeable, but during regular conversations, he nearly always did this, yet the teachers always laughed about it, dismissing it as a difficulty to find the right words.

But Jackie knew that it was a speech problem. She'd read that if children received therapy for this at an early age. However, when she suggested this, nearly all the teachers dismissed her concern. "If you had a real education, you'd know that these kinds of things are all just a phase," one of them had said to her this morning. It was useless to try to convince them. Since she was just an aide, her opinions were never taken into consideration.

"Drop me off here, Hannah. I can easily walk back home at this point."

"No, Jackie; you're staying here."

Suddenly, another car was approaching them; going at a high speed. Despite how Jackie was feeling at the moment, she knew that the vehicle could collide into them.

"Stop now!" She warned.

"No!" Hannah had not noticed the vehicle.

"I mean it! That car's about to crash into us!" The lights from that other vehicle were getting closer at every second.

"What are you..."

And that point, there was a crash.

Then, Jackie felt as if someone were dragging her away. The glass that came from the front window, which was next to where Jackie had been seated, must have cut parts of her face, because she could taste blood coming from her lower lip, but other than that, it was almost as if she were half-asleep. In a way, it even felt peaceful.

But that was until she got a sight of the other car. A couple had been driving, and it was obvious that they were dead. From the man, there was an open crack in the forehead, with blood slowly making its' way out, running all over his face. There were other smaller cuts as well, but their effects on his appearance were just as equally gruesome. The woman didn't have as much cuts, but the rest of her appearance was even more disfiguring. Her eyes were wide open, with almost all the color drained out of them, and they reflected a deep shock that took a fatal hold of her. Her head was bend forward, with her mouth as widely opened as the eyes, and gave the impression of someone who was suffocating. If Jackie wasn't as conscious as she was, she would have thought that they were zombies.

Then, she heard a horrific scream; the kind that people let out if they're being tortured or are in unbearable pain, as opposed to simply feeling frightened. It sounded so awful that Jackie felt as if it were a blow in the face or some kind of force trying to knock her out. Who it came from was not something she managed to notice, and at the moment, she assumed it was Hannah or even herself. However, she could not cover her ears because someone had gotten a hold of her.

The next thing she knew, she was seated on the backseat of a large van, with Hannah right next to her. She had not gotten seriously injured on account of how the car had only only hit the side where the doors were, but she still had a wet cloth around her forehead on account of how it had hit the steering didn't say a word, but it was obvious that she was frightened. Jackie had a bandage wrapped around her chin, but other than that, she had no serious injuries. Why they were close to being fine while those driving the other vehicle had been seriously killed was something that was beyond her comprehension.

The person who helped them had stepped out of the car. It was a woman with short dark hair who was dressed from head to toe in black. Her age was hard to tell, as her features didn't give any obvious signs of being either young or middle-aged. And yet, all that mystery shown through her appearance seemed to give her a strange kind of beauty that defied any particular standards.

"One of you lives around here. I highly suggest that you get in there before anyone tries to approach you," she said in an authoritative tone.

It was the apartment building where Jackie lived. It was obvious that it was best if she went in there right away, but before she left, she asked, "Who are you, and how do you know where I live?"

"I am not part of the police or any of the other British authorities, if that's what you're thinking. However, I have more knowledge of things than you or any of them will ever be capable of obtaining."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's none of your concern. What matters is that I managed to save you and your friend from what could have been a terrible fate. As a matter of fact, I think you felt the presence of what could have taken over you."

Did that explain the scream? But Jackie didn't ask. Instead, she got out of the car and started walking up to the building. Before she got inside, she heard the woman say, "And remember not to say a word about me to anyone. I'm nearly impossible to find, and those who manage to come in contact with me have a difficult time believing the things they see."

Within a matter of seconds, the woman and her van were gone, disappearing into the dark city night.

...

To say that Ella Ferris was worried would have been an understatement.

"Do you realize how late it is, Jackie? I can't even begin to tell you about the state Rose has been in for the past couple of hours."

"What so you mean? Has she gotten unwell again?" This was the only thing that could make things worse.

"When I picked her up, she was very quiet, and wouldn't answer my questions about how school went. I thought she must have had a hard day, so I took her to the indoor pool in this building. At first, she was in a good mood, and started telling me about how she made a new friend as I was teaching her how to swim. But then, she went completely still. I had to hold her to prevent her from drowning, and kept calling her name in order to get her to snap out of it, but she couldn't."

Rose had another blackout. It happened at least once every couple of months, and all the doctors who'd checked on her couldn't find out what the problem was, suggesting that it was probably just her way of handling stressful situations. Ella was studying Psychology at the university, and she couldn't find any explanation either.

" So I took her back in here, where she now appeared to be asleep. Within two hours, she woke up crying out for you. She said that she'd dreamed that you were in a car accident, and that while we were in the pool, John Smith had been warning her that you were going to get in some kind of trouble. Nothing I told her would calm her down, until she went all silent again. Within a couple of minutes, she said that everything would be all right, because John Smith said that he'd sent someone in to save you."

How could Rose have found out? Was this intuition of hers stronger than Jackie had thought? And for that matter, what did John Smith represent to her? Was he really just an imaginary friend, or some voice in Rose's head? She had a good reason to believe that Rose was going through some kind of mental illness on account of those blackouts and John Smith, but what could possibly explain all these things she knew which no other person could ever guess?

And there stood Ella, whose auburn hair was cut into a bob, who wore a bikini when swimming with no embarrassment, listened to all those new rock bands that appealed to misfits, and was one of the best students at her university's Psychology program. She thought she had everything figured out, but like Jackie, she could never understand Rose. It was very unlikely that she would believe what Jackie was starting to suspect, and she had no intention of telling her.

"Jackie, what happened to you?" Ella asked, finally looking into Jackie's injured face.

"I was out late with Hannah and I ended up getting into a fight, " she lied, saying the first thing that came into her mind.

"Were you drinking again?"

"I was." This was all she was willing to tell the truth about.

"How could you? Of all days, you had to do it during your daughter's first day of school. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Jackie said nothing in defense of herself. It was useless. She knew perfectly well that this was all her fault.

"The least you can do now is get into her room and let her know you're all right for now. Since she had such a difficult day, I'm not going to tell her about you did. If you want to admit it to her later, that's your decision. But don't forget about what happened. Something has to change, Jackie, and neither I nor anyone else can do anything to make it happen. It's all up to you."

They walked through the living room, where stacks of books, notebooks, and paper could be found on the shelves, coffee table, and floor, and into Rose's room, where the walls were decorated with drawings and posters from cartoons and movies, particularly _The Little Mermaid_ and _Beauty and the Beast,_ and the floor was covered with toys and books. Rose was in the bed, with her arms around the Snoopy stuffed animal she'd had since she was a baby.

"Rose, I'm home," she whispered, and then she embraced her daughter.

Rose glanced at her mother and took notice of the bandage that covered part of her face. "Mummy, did you get hurt?" she asked in a quiet and worried voice.

"I did, but I'm all right now," she said calmly, trying her best not to fully admit what happened, yet avoid lying.

"John Smith said that you were in trouble."

"But I'm here right now, honey, and that's all that matters."

"Are you sure you're okay?" This was the last thing Rose asked on the subject on that day.

"I am, and I promise this won't happen again."

Rose put Snoopy on the table where her lamp was set up, and started wrapping herself with her purple bed sheets.

"School didn't go so well for me," she admitted.

"Don't worry too much about it. A lot of people have bad first days. You can tell me more about it in the morning."

Ella started to leave, with that worried look remaining on her face. She knew there was something which Jackie had avoided telling her, but she decided not to bring it up right now. It was best to force her to confront her own problems for once.

At that moment, Jackie promised herself two things: that she was never going to drink alcohol again, and that she would do her best to find out what was going on with Rose. If all of this could be done, then perhaps it would help her have more of a chance of getting that life she had always wanted.

But what if there really was some kind of danger out there; something which nobody could possibly explain or believe? If so, what could she do about it? The events of that night remained vivid in her memory, and as she was reading to Rose, she could hear that scream echoing through that part of her mind that stored her darkest memories.

 **Updated author's note: If some things about this chapter seem confusing, just know that many details, including the identities of those who died and the woman who rescued Jackie and Hannah, as well as what actually caused the accident, will be revealed in later chapters. I have no promises for when the next chapter will be posted, since I don't have my laptop right now, but chapters 1 and 2 have been edited, so check that out if you want to. Otherwise, continue to read and review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A couple of clues relating to the mysterious car crash will start to be revealed. As always, enjoy reading and review if you can.**

From _The London Times_ :

Yesterday, at approximately 8:05 PM, there was a car collision between Powell Avenue and Churchill Street. One of the vehicles, a 1985 Cadillac, suffered the greatest damage, flipping over as soon as it crashed, according to one eyewitness. There were two passengers inside, and both were dead upon the arrival of the police at the scene. The names of the passengers were Alice and Ryan Davidson, ages 24 and 25. According to the autopsy, Alice died from a broken neck, and Ryan from a concussion. They lived in London and had been married for three months. No family members or friends have been contacted yet.

The other vehicle that crashed was a 1987 Toyota. An Identification card revealed the owner to be Hannah Lewis, age 22 and an Early Childhood Education teacher at Rolling Meadows Nursery School. She and another unidentified woman were dragged out of the car by an unidentified pedestrian, who is said to have held on to the back of the vehicle as it crashed, according to another eyewitness. This interference, though considered reckless by the eyewitness, may have prevented the vehicle and passengers from what could have been serious damage and death. Lewis was approached for questions at 7:46 AM this morning, but she refused to comment.

The day after the accident, despite getting little sleep during the night, Jackie was the first person to arrive at the nursery school. Her car was parked exactly where it always was at 7:10 AM, although who brought it back was something she wouldn't find out until much later.

Hannah, on the other hand, arrived seven minutes late, but received no lecture from Karen. One look into her face, where dark circles and heavy eyelids surrounded her usually cheerful looking eyes and lines of stress were visible throughout, and it was clear to everyone that she'd had a bad night. Throughout the morning, she complained of headaches, and after nearly fainting as she was reading a story to the morning class, Karen told her to take the rest of the day off. When she read about the incident in _The London Times_ , later that day, she gave her the rest of the week off. "I can't have you working after going through something so horrible, Hannah," she'd said to her on the phone after Hannah had protested against her decision. However, she was grateful for what she'd done for her, because she would suffer from migraines and insomnia and sleepless nights for six days.

"Whenever I try to close my eyes," she told Jackie when she paid her a visit on Friday, " All I can see are those gruesome faces from the accident. And it's not just how awful it all looked that scares me, Jackie; it's the fact that it could have been us. We would be dead right now if it hadn't been for that strange woman!" She refused to blame Jackie for what had happened; a fact which brought Jackie both relief and shame.

That whole week, she didn't suffer physically at all. The small wounds in her face healed very quickly, leaving scars that would fade away within three months. No one at work asked any questions, and she just did her regular duties as if nothing had happened, which included setting up toys and snacks, helping the children get settled before an activity, and giving assistance if one of them misbehaved or had some kind of accident. She was no longer drinking either, which at that point was making things a little easier. Karen would later tell her that both her quality of work and attitude seemed to be improving this year. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think the fact that Rose has moved on to primary school has a lot to do with these changes. Having your children with you at work can be lovely, but it can also increase stress due to the fact that you feel as if you must continue on with your role as a parent while having to care for other children at the same time. And of course, with a child like Rose, you never know what to expect."

As for Rose, it didn't seem as if things would be getting any better for her. She couldn't forget about that dream she'd had about her mother, and she knew that she was hiding something from her, but she was not able to detect what that could be. While some of her dreams turned out be visions of things that happened later on, most of the time , they just weren't. When she asked John Smith about what had actually happened, he responded by saying, _That is something which I can't reveal to you, Rose. There are some things which children should not have to know._

 _But John Smith, you have always told me that the more I know, the more I'll be able to face challenges._

 _You weren't the one that had to face this challenge, Rose! It was your mother, and it's best for now that she keeps her experiences to herself. All you have to know is that I send someone to help her, and she's now safe._

 _And who was it?_

 _I will reveal nothing on that matter._

And in school, the bullying would not stop. Although not everyone in her class made fun of her ( there were at least three kids that tried to stop the bullies), it seemed to her as if she had more enemies than friends. On her second day, someone tripped her in the hallways, which caused some of the kids who saw her to laugh. Afterwards, some of her crayons and her pink eraser were stolen while she went up to sharpen her pencil. When she told Miss Bryan about it, all she said was "Things get lost all the time, Rose. Just because something goes missing doesn't mean that it was stolen," causing some kids to start quietly giggling, and one of them whispered, "Tattletale." Only one person called her a Looney on that day, but she barely took notice of that. It was as if everyone in the school hated her.

However, there were some good things going on. In class, Miss Bryan took notice that she could already read a little as well as write a couple of things which everyone else had yet to learn. Her abilities weren't considered to be "exceptional", as were those of two other kids in the class, but she seemed to be one of the smarter kids in the class. And of course, she had Mickey, whom she saw every school day during recess. They tried to stay away from the other kids who were constantly teasing her, and as a result, they spend most of recess walking around in the field, where some of the oldest kids in the school would play sports or walk around in groups while listening to music in Walkmans (they would always ignore them as they walked by).

Mickey liked talking about how his parents both worked as flight attendants, which meant that he'd already traveled to certain parts of the world, including Paris, Berlin, Sweden, Japan, and New York City. However, this was only during the summer, and as a result of how they traveled very often for work, he was usually being taken care of either by his grandmother or Sarah Jane Smith. Sarah's work as a journalist was very interesting as well. He told her about how she once caught a group of thieves who were planning to rob the national bank, uncovered a secret research project which involved human testing, and exposed a successful attorney who was actually a Russian spy. But even more interesting was how she'd been said to investigate alien sightings, including a case where a whole neighborhood claimed to have seen a UFO flying by during the night.

"Did it actually happen?" Rose asked.

"Sarah won't tell me if it did or not. She always says that she was just investigating," was Mickey's response. He never said anything about Sarah being able to read minds, and Rose noticed that he had no idea about it. She must have been keeping it a secret, just as she kept trying to do. Rose had been trying to reach John Smith in order to ask about her, but he never responded. John Smith usually only showed up to her during times of need, but rarely when she actually wanted him to come. Why would he not want her to know that there was probably another person in the world who had the same special abilities as she did? It struck her as very strange, but then again, John Smith's existence was strange enough.

On that second day of school, Mickey told her that Sarah wanted her to come over to her house.

Rose already knew why she would want this, but she asked anyway.

"She thinks it's a good idea for me to start having friends over," was what Mickey told her. Of course, this couldn't be the only reason why, but upon detection of his mind, Rose realized that it was at least part of the reason. Mickey had few other friends besides her, and they never even asked to come visit him.

"I'll ask my mummy if I can come," she responded. And when she asked her mummy that night, as she was typing away in her old typewriter (she had been writing a lot more often lately), she had at first shrieked on account of feeling startled. She was very into her work, and the scene she was writing, which involved the sad memories of a now grown woman, was what was on her mind at the moment.

"Sorry, Rose. What did you ask again?" was what she asked after taking a drink of water. No more alcohol. That was another thing that was different, as well as the fact that even the smallest unexpected occurances seemed to scare her.

"My friend Mickey invited me to come visit him after school next Wednesday. Is it all right with you?"

"Of course, honey. It's a good idea for you start making new friends. Just let Ella know that you'll being staying there." And after that, her mummy went right back to typing, as if she'd never been interrupted.

Rose had no idea about the things she would be discovering when the day of the visit finally arrived.


	6. Chapter 6

When that Wednesday finally arrived, things had actually started going quite well for once. Throughout the beginning of the day, Rose did not hear a single thought from anyone's mind other than her own. Her mummy didn't wake up feeling tired and nervous, and she had been smiling as she prepared breakfast. While driving her to school, she willingly put on the radio station that played all of Rose's favorite music, and when the time came for Rose to get out of the car, she went along with her, although she still wore the sunglasses and refused to talk to anyone. While in class, no one made fun of her at all, and she managed to get a gold star from Miss Bryan for being able to write all of the first ten letters of the alphabet, and during recess, a group of older kids let her and Mickey play football with them. All of this seemed slightly strange to Rose, but since she was so young, she didn't have any doubts about what this could mean. Instead, she just enjoyed the fact that nothing was going wrong, and assumed that her time with Sarah Jane Smith would be just the same.

When the green car did arrive that afternoon, it almost seemed to be the way Rose had anticipated. Sarah let them in the car and greeted them in the same cheerful manner as she had before. However, as soon as Rose set foot in the car, it was as if a part of her had been snapped awake, and she started hearing the thoughts of everyone that was outside:

 _What will it take for Tommy to settle down and just listen to his teacher for once? I have enough to deal with during the day, so what would make them think I have time for any damn conference?_

 _And as usual, the bloody man of the house can't come along with me. I feel like a single parent sometimes, only they don't have to put up with bloody excuses and complaints every single night. Perhaps mum was right about Fred after all._

 _No, I can't get a computer for the kids right now. I can barely afford a bag of crisps for lunch!_

 _I love how these children are all such angels. If they ever got a good look at the people I have to deal with every day at work, they would never want to grow up, I guarantee it!_

And then:

 _Try not to listen to them, Rose. I hear things like this all the time, and it's almost always meaningless. If you don't pay attention to them, the voices start to fade away, and then it's all over._

It was Sarah. She had not taken her eyes off the road that whole time, and yet she managed to send a clear message to Rose. At that moment, her ability to this was a big surprise to her. How was it possible to willingly communicate with someone while doing something that seemed to required so much attention, such as driving a car?

And in just a couple of seconds, all those voices were automatically gone. It helped that they were driving away from the crowd of parents, but since this was the city, there were always people close by, and it would have been really easy to detect their thoughts. She had directed her mind towards something else, and as a result, her attention had drifted away from all those voices. It seemed so easy.

 _See, dear? That's all it takes._

So far, not much was being said out loud, and Mickey, who was usually very talkative, was getting impatient. After a while passed without Rose or Sarah saying a single word, he said, " So, it's been getting a bit colder lately, don't you all think so?"

It really was. The temperature had dropped ten degrees within the past three days, and all the kids at school were upset because they had to wear their school sweaters during recess. However, since they saw the weather as very predictable, they had been prepared for this change.

Sarah laughed rather nervously. "You're learning the rules of small talk so fast, Mickey. Yes, it is a cool day, but autumn always brings us beautiful days during September. October and November are almost always gloomy."

Rose noticed that she seemed to be forcing herself to speak. There was so much on her mind, so staying focused on such a random subject for the sake of "small talk" with Mickey was difficult. She noticed that this happened very often with her mummy when they had unexpected visitors. It was considered rude to remain silent, so the first thing that usually came to people's minds were the weather, just because everyone was aware of it, and as a result, the unwanted conversation got a simple starting point. She didn't like this, but it seemed like an unwritten rule.

At first, all the sights outside were typical: old apartment buildings, a lot of restaurants and shops where only those who lived close by or were on their way to work attended, large groups of kids in alleys listening to music with one of those big radios and talking very quickly and loudly, and several mothers walking around with their young children. Her mummy once said that a lot of these women didn't have cars or enough money for the bus or train, so they had to walk everywhere, usually along with their kids. It was all part of the poor side of London, and half of the kids from school came from here.

But within fifteen minutes, all these sights changed. The traffic decreased, and there were less people walking around. It was a small neighborhood which was separated from the more overcrowded parts of the city. The few shops and restaurants included a cafe, a French restaurant called Chantal's, a dress shop, and a video store. Besides that, all you could see was the large park and all the nice houses, which stood in neat rows and were nearly all the color white. The few people who were outside were just as neat, wearing either suits or dresses, along with hats, high heels, boots, and expensive jewelry. The majority of them took no notice of the car or Sarah and the kids, and one man actually glared when the car passed by.

However, there was one exception to this neighborhood's near perfect and snobbishly posh image. Next to one of the houses stood a middle- aged woman with long, straight blonde hair with a purple flower tied around the top and who wore one of those funny shirts with the tongue sticking out, which Rose's mummy said was the symbol for a popular old band called the Rolling Stones, a blue miniskirt, and sandals (she didn't seem to be bothered by the cool temperature), as well as about four gold necklaces, long hoop earrings, and a nose ring. She had a cigarette in her mouth, and was holding a shopping bag. As soon as she saw the car, she took the cigarette out of her mouth and waved as eagerly as a child.

"Hey there, Sarah! Hi Mickey!" she shouted out.

Sarah smiled and waved back, but she didn't say anything. Mickey, on the other hand, got all excited, and he opened the window and shouted just as loudly, "Hi, Violet! I've got a friend over today, and I think she'll want to meet you guys."

"Of course she can come, mate. Tom and I are always glad to invite you guys and any of your friends in, unlike all the other bloody bores that live around here."

"Violet, don't talk like that in front of the kids," Sarah said.

"Oh, shut up, Sarah. Kids get exposed to all sorts of crap nowadays, so what's wrong with them hearing adults cuss?"

Some of the neighbors that were outside shook their heads, and the angry man from before said, "Why don't you go in and pollute your own house instead of having us all breathe in that nicotine and risk getting cancer?"

"Get lost, mate, and then you won't have to worry about it!"

 _This neighborhood would be a lot better without that obnoxious slut and her joke of a husband or that nosy bitch with her tabloids and hunts for E.T.,_ Rose heard the man thinking. She frowned, and suddenly he tripped through a crack in the sidewalk, dropping his newspapers but managing to land on his knees. Violet laughed and exclaimed, "Serves you right, you old bastard!"and then threw her cigarette in his direction before going back inside.

Sarah immediately drove away from the scene. "And that, Rose, was Violet Marsh. She's got quite a character, as does her husband and three kids. They have their own rock band, and do whatever it is that pleases them. Our other guest was Gregory Jordan, CEO of Jordan & Goldberg Finances, who isn't very fond of either of us."

"Violet was in school with Sarah," Mickey said.

"Yes, and back then, she hated me. But an incident at university brought us together."

"Could I visit them?" Rose asked.

"Not today. There are other things we must do."

At that moment, they parked in front of a small blue house with a balcony. Next to the mailbox was a sign that read: Est. 1874. Upon entry, Rose noticed that everything looked really nice, yet simple. Besides the large grandfather clock and some of the portraits, everything else looked like something that could be seen in a regular home. In the living room, there was a small television and an old computer, along with two large cream colored shelves full of books, records, video cassettes, and lots of old newspapers. The walls were full of pictures: some black and white, and others in color, and several of them showed three young dark-haired girls who had their arms together and were smiling, looking like the children whom appeared in the old TV shows that her mummy liked watching, with a large painted portrait of them in the living room.

"That's me and my sisters, Rebecca and Lucy. The portrait was made by my grandmother," Sarah explained.

"It's so beautiful," Rose responded. Her attention was then focused on a colored photo of a young woman whom she was almost certain was Sarah. In it, she was laughing and wearing a white blouse with flower designs and a long red skirt, and she had her arm around a brown- haired man who wore a black polo shirt and blue jeans, looking just as cheerful as Sarah did.

"That's me and an old friend of mine," Sarah said in a voice that seemed more hesitant, almost the same as she was in the car. She paused for a moment before going on. "His name was Harry Sullivan." As she said that, her eyes looked rather sad, and Rose wondered why.

They then walked into the dining room, where there was a plate of cold- cut sandwiches and cupcakes, along with a pitcher of lemonade. At the sight of the food, Mickey immediately opened up a cupboard and got three plates and cups. "Wait till you try all the stuff that Sarah makes. It's better anything you can get at a restaurant." But Rose's attention was on the robotic toy that was around the table. Upon a closer look, she noticed that it was shaped like a dog, and it quickly went up to her. When they were at a closer distance, a robotic voice came out of the toy dog, saying, _Pleasure to meet you, mistress._

Mickey laughed. "That's K9. He's a robotic dog that helps Sarah solve cases, kind of like Scooby Doo, as Violet Marsh likes to call him. He likes it when we have company, but almost the neighbors hate him because he's always getting into their lawns and trying to send them messages."

Rose put her hand around K9's head, thinking that everything seemed very interesting so far.

After they had eaten, Sarah said, "Mickey, go outside with K9. I want to speak with Rose alone."

"How long will it take?"

"I don't know, but just stay in the backyard. Don't go visit the Marshes, and make sure that K9 stays away from the neighbors. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sarah," Mickey responded, and within a minute, he and K9 were gone.

When they were alone, Rose noticed that Sarah appeared to look older whenever she got serious or sad. With her blue long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans, she looked a little like some of those anxious older mothers she saw at the school who were always worrying about their children or complaining about their husbands, but there was something different about her as well. The seemingly happy little girl and cheerful young woman in the photos seemed to reflect this as well. This was a woman who had learned more about how the world works than most adults ever would, and who had experienced some very dark moments which Rose couldn't even attempt to guess.

"I think you already know the reason I wanted to see you," Sarah finally said to her.

"Yes," Rose responded with a nod.

"You heard all those messages I send you very clearly, is that correct?" she asked.

"Yes; I was able to read your mind."

"All right. You seem to understand the situation well enough. We both appear to have very similar powers, but I know that there's more that you're able to see and do."

"That's right," Rose said.

"Now, are you sure that you're comfortable with anything I might have you do?" Sarah asked with some concern.

"I think I am."

"Well then, I'm going to have you try to do certain tasks and answer some questions, but we'll work through it very slowly. If anything goes wrong, we'll stop. Is that okay with you, dear?"

"Yes, Sarah. I'll do the best I can."

"All right, then let's begin."


	7. Chapter 7

**And now, we will learn how powerful Rose actually is. More suspense is in the way, and will continue more frequently for the rest of the story.**

The first test Sarah Jane Smith performed on Rose Tyler was the one she'd had to perform the most frequently herself: twice as a child and twice again as an adult. She started by telling Rose to turn around and close her eyes, just as her grandmother had done when she was only four years old. Rose obeyed, and then Sarah said, "And now, I want you to guess how many fingers I'm holding up. In the count of three, give a response. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Miss Smith," Rose responded.

"Okay. One, two, three, begin." She held her hands in fists, with only her thump sticking out. As soon as it stuck out, Rose shouted, "One!"

"Good, and now…"she stuck out two more fingers.

"Three!"

She now stopped speaking and simply held up her entire right hand, and within one second, Rose said, "Five!"

Now she stuck out the three middle fingers in her left hand along with all of her right, and Rose immediately exclaimed, "Eight!"

She then bend all of her fingers except for her left thump.

"One!"

"All right, Rose. You got them all correct."

"Great! So what is that supposed to mean?" Rose asked eagerly. So far, she was seeing all of this as fun. She'd been expecting a more complex test, so the fact that this was all she'd had to do was a pleasant surprise. It didn't take much mind reading to figure this out.

"It means that you're able to predict the future."

"And now you know for sure that I can do it?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes, and in such a quick amount of time as well." When she'd done this at the age of four, it took her about ten seconds to picture how many fingers her grandmother was holding up, and as she got older, it still took at least five seconds to give the correct amount, and Rose had been able to do it within one to two seconds. With just this test, she was already able to tell that Rose seemed to be more powerful than she was.

"You know how I've been able to communicate with you by just thinking?" she now asked Rose.

"Yeah?"

"Well now, I want you to try sending a thought across to me just I did to you. It doesn't have to be anything important. As a matter of fact, the simpler and shorter the thought, the easier it is for me to receive it. It's not that different from talking to someone."

"All right. Can I do it now?"

"Yes, go ahead. I'm ready to get your message."

But as a matter of fact, neither of them were ready for the events which followed.

Just as if it was a typical conversation, Rose send this gleeful message through her mind:

 _Hi, Sarah!_

And as soon as she heard it, Sarah bit her lip so hard that she could taste blood, and before she knew it, she lost her balance, and nearly tripped on the beige carpet which covered up the living room floor.

Rose gasped in shock. "Ms. Smith? Sarah Jane? Are you okay?" She tried to walk up to where Sarah was bending on the floor, but she found herself practically glued to the spot where she was seated, incapable of physically moving.

Sarah tried opening her mouth to speak, but an awful pain came from the bitten lip, leaving her speechless and with her hand covering her lower lip, not so much in an attempt to reduce the pain, but because of the shock that seemed to be surging its' way through her body.

And then, many things, both within the living room and outside of it, began falling. First was a flower pot which was stored next to the window. The pot, which was made out of wood, broke in half as soon as it landed on the carpet, resulting in the soil getting scattered around and the sunflower it stored to get withered up, resembling a person whose head was hung. Some books and newspapers which were stored on the top shelves fell after this, with the books landing with a heavy thud which not even the carpet could reduce, and three of the newspapers started floating in the ceiling as if they were paper airplanes. In the kitchen, several plates and the tea pot which was a family heirloom all landed on the hard floor at the same time, resulting in a horrible shattering crash which could be heard very clearly through the living room.

But the most frightening sound of all came from the landing of a black and white family portrait in the hallway, which was taken in 1957 and showed all three Smith sisters, dressed in identical white dresses and smiling in a way which hid all the usual sadness, fear, and disappointments which took up most of their childhood, gathered next to their father, who was wearing a dark suit and for once showed no visible signs of the anguish which was reflected in almost every other picture which was taken of him. When it landed on the floor, not only did the shattering of the glass sound like an explosion, but the ground actually started shaking as if there were an earthquake. The shaking lasted only for a couple of seconds, but its' presence was felt by both Sarah Jane and Rose. And if you looked closely, you could see what appeared to be a reddish brown liquid leaking out of the glass, bearing a strong resemblance to blood.

In about two minutes, the grandfather clock started ringing, indicating that it was now four o'clock, and even though this made the scene a little more frightening, it also marked the end of it. Sarah was now able to move, despite the fact that she was trembling as if she were dying of cold. She placed her hand gently around Rose's arm and said, "Rose? How are you?"

The child's face was as white as a sheet, but she was starting to slowly move again. Her eyes looked bewildered, and her mouth hung open, as if she were trying to scream but didn't have the strength to let all her fear out. Pretty soon, she was softly crying, and the first thing she managed to say between sobs was, "Did I hurt you, Sarah Jane?"

Just the simple fact that she was calling her by both her first and middle name, just as her family had always done, as opposed to simply Sarah, as some her friends and Mickey Smith called her, was a sign that the child was being serious in a way which was beyond her years.

"Only a little, but I think the house suffered a lot more damage than I did," she responded with a weak smile which did little to hide her own fear. The house was indeed a large mess now, but getting started on cleaning it was the last thing on her mind.

"I… I'm sorry for what I did," Rose sobbed. " I knew I could do stuff like this before, but I never thought something like this could happen."

It was telekinesis. Sarah Jane had once encountered an alien with multiple eyes which were able to move objects around whenever they blinked, but she'd never met a human who could do this. Such abilities were more rare in humans than ESP was, and throughout her life, she'd encountered somewhere around fifty people (and several unearthly creatures, the majority whom she saw when traveling with the Doctor), who shared her abilities, and fifteen of them were people she'd exposed as cons throughout her career as a journalist, including the Soviet spy from one of her first investigations in the early seventies. Telekinesis in humans was something she'd only seen in horror or science fiction movies. To think that this five-year-old girl possessed such a strong power was unbelievable.

"I should be the one apologizing, dear. I didn't know you could move things with your mind. Those kinds of things are almost never seen. And yet, I don't think I should be surprised either. I've been seeing strange things my whole life, but until today..."

"You'd never encountered a person as powerful as me," Rose responded, completing the sentence for her. All traces of sobbing and tears were now gone.

"That's right," Sarah said with a nod. Then, with her arm around Rose's shoulder, she said, "Did you have any questions about this?"

"No. I don't want to talk about it right now," the child responded.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"My head hurts a little."

"Don't worry about that. The pain usually passes, but if it continues, I'll get you something for it."

They just sat there for a while, and then Sarah asked, "Rose, does your family know about your powers?"

"I don't know. My mummy had no idea before, but now, I think she's starting to think that there's something different about me, and I don't have a daddy, so there's no one else who knows about this."

This information was new to her, but it wasn't surprising either. Such a young child had to be careful about letting others in on this secret. The majority of Sarah's family didn't know the full extent of her abilities until she was a teenager, and only few of her friends (including the Marshes) knew about it at all.

"And there's something else I haven't told you about yet."

"Go ahead and say it, Rose."

Rose started talking about the topic Sarah had been waiting to be brought up throughout the entire visit:

"Ever since I started nursery school, I've had this strange friend. Everyone thinks he's imaginary, but I can always hear him very well in my mind, and sometimes I even see him the way I would see any other person. At first, he seemed like just a friendly man who wanted to have fun with me and comfort me when I was sad or scared, but after a while, he started getting more strange, even scary, and half the time when he talks to me, it's to warn me about something bad that's going to happen."

"Is this man's name John Smith?" Sarah asked rather desperately.

"Yes. Have you met him before?"

And at that moment, Sarah Jane saw the man whom appeared to Rose Tyler. He was middle-aged, with slightly grey hair, and wore a beige jacket and matching hat, along with suspenders and a tie. Although he was slightly different from the two versions of John Smith she'd known almost twenty years ago (although he bore a strong resemblance to his Fourth form, of whose regeneration she'd witnessed ), a part of her knew for sure that this was indeed the Doctor.

"I did, a long time ago. I was a lot older than you, fourteen as a matter of fact, when he first started appearing in my dreams. Only I later learned that I was actually having visions of his life. I don't even know if I can find a way of explaining all this to you."

"Can you at least try to?"

Sarah Jane took a deep breath and began:

"John Smith is not a really a man, and he does not go by his real name. Most of the time, he's known as the Doctor. He's actually part of some group of aliens known as the Time Lords, whom all live in a planet called Gallifrey. They are able to travel through time and space, coming in contact with all sorts of creatures and places which most people don't know the existence of. At one point, as an adult, I was able to do all this with John Smith while traveling in a machine called the TARDIS after I met him in person for when I was twenty-five."

"Is he actually a doctor?"

"He claimed to be a special kind of doctor, but I never learned for sure. Anyway, the time I spend with him were the best years of my life. As a matter of fact, I wanted to keep traveling with him for the rest of my life, and the Doctor was more than willing to let me do that. He always told me I was the strongest human companion he'd ever had, and that if he could choose one person to always be by his side during his travels, it would be me."

"But you didn't stay with him. Why was that?"

There was a loud knocking on the door. It was Mickey, probably growing very impatient by now, but Sarah Jane went on.

"Things got very complicated. I was in danger many times, and it turned out that my powers weren't always enough to keep me safe. A group of people who investigated aliens and advised the Doctor, who were part of an organization known as UNIT, were aware of this from the start, and they'd done everything they could to make our travels safe for him and me, including sending that old friend of mine, who was an actual doctor, along with us," and at this, she nodded at the photo of her and Harry Sullivan (the only photo she had from her time with the Doctor), taken by her father during a brief "holiday" they'd had on Earth. "But at the end, none of this was enough, and during one of our adventures, when I was in so much danger that I was almost killed, the Doctor and I decided that it was best if I went back to Earth, and we had to say goodbye."

The knocking continued. It had to end now.

"I know you probably have a lot more questions, but I can't go on with this right now. I'll try to have us meet again some other time alone, and we'll discuss even more about all this. There's only one other thing I have to let you know."

"What is it?"

"If your powers ever make you sense any kind of trouble that you don't think you could handle on your own, call out to me through your mind like you did just now, and I'll do whatever it takes to help you."

"But what if I end up hurting you or damaging something?"

"Don't worry about that, Rose. From my own experience, all the evil beings in any universe, whether they're aliens, ghosts, or people like us, do a lot more harm than a decent person with psychic powers ever can. It's not easy being gifted, but you will learn to live with it, and perhaps even make this world a better place with them, just as I did."

This was something Sarah Jane had been trying to convince herself of her whole life. Her grandmother had told her this hundreds of times, and the Doctor about as much in just two years. And with all the foes she'd encountered her whole life, from the deleks to her corrupt grandfather (her father's wealthy and cruel father), from the sontarans to a scheming psychiatrist who tormented her father, as well as Sarah Jane herself at one point, and could have gotten him stuck in that awful hospital for years if her aunt Lavinia hadn't intervened, and from evil spiders to school bullies (despite what the woman at Rose's school had said, some children were not angels), she had many reasons to believe that this was true. But of course, one could never know for sure.

She gave Rose a small hug before walking up to the door to let Mickey and K9 back in the house. Neither of them suspected that anything had gone wrong, and to Sarah's and Rose's astonishment, there was almost no trace of the damage that was done in the house. All the books and newspapers were stacked up neatly in the bookshelf once again, the teapot was stored in the cupboard along with all the china plates which were rarely used, and all the dishes that were stored next to the sandwiches and pastries were back there in perfect condition. If anything, the house actually looked a lot better than it did fifteen minutes earlier.

However, the family portrait remained broken, and part of the photo remaining stained in that strange liquid, around the face of young Lucy Smith, who wore a red ribbon around her long black hair, and whom young Sarah Jane was holding by the shoulders. Lucy, who had been so beautiful and optimistic when she was young, was the only person in the photo who was dead, and her dark days as an adult led her to resent her family, especially Sarah Jane. All of this seemed to be reflected in the destroyed photo, and if you looked very closely, the joyful smile on Lucy's face now appeared to be a scornful smirk.

In addition to this, there was one book that remained on the floor. It was a sketchbook with drawings by Jane Harris, and among them included several sketches of the visions she'd seen of the dreams her teenaged granddaughter's dreams. In it, you could find pictures of the Doctor as an old man, as well as several of the TARDIS, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, cavemen, the planet Skaro, the Thals and the Daleks. But the most vivid drawing in there was that of Susan Foreman, whom upon first glance, Jane Harris had almost believed to be her own granddaughter, and if closely examined with a sketch of fourteen-year-old Sarah Jane on the next page, one could correctly observe the strange similarities between the two girls.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favored. It helps keep me motivated :)**

 **A note on a change I'm making: in the second chapter, I said that Rose was born around spring of 1987. When I watched the first series again last week, I noticed that she was 19 in 2005, meaning that she would have been born in 1986, so in order to accommodate this with what I've written so far, I'm now having her birth at October of 1986, and will be making the necessary changes to chapter 2.**

 **Continue to read and review.**

 **October 1992**

Within a couple of days, Rose Tyler's sixth birthday would be approaching, but unlike other years, she wasn't very excited about it. For one thing, she now had very few people who were interested in celebrating it, as opposed to last year when her whole nursery school class had given her a party at the end of the day. This year, only Mickey was interested in coming over to her house for cake, which Ella had promised to bake for her since her mummy didn't know how to bake. One girl in her class talked about getting her a card, and the group of older kids with whom she and Mickey played with promised to get her bags of candy, but none of them even asked to be invited over. And everyone else in school neither knew nor cared about it. It made Rose feel as if a celebration wasn't worth it.

Also, right when she needed to talk to John Smith the most, he refused to show up to her in any way. The first thing she'd done when she was alone after getting home from her visit with Sarah Jane Smith was to call John Smith up, intending to ask him if all the stuff Sarah Jane had said about him was true, and if so, why he had never brought any of it up before, but he did not answer back either at the moment or anytime afterwards. She'd started to fear that because she'd now met someone else like her, it meant that John Smith no longer needed to appear to her anymore. Despite the fact he'd scared her sometimes and often further complicated situations, he'd still managed to protect her, and at times he still acted like a close friend, making her laugh with some rather funny sayings, listening to her talk about her day, and reminding her that she wasn't crazy and that you could get over even your worst fears. His presence had become a great comfort to her.

More than a month later, five days before her birthday, which was on the 30th of October, she was sitting alone in her room, with one hand around a copy of _Madeline_ , which was her favorite book, and another around Snoopy, her favorite stuffed animal. Her mummy was in her room working on her novel, as she now did every night without failure. While Rose was truly interested in practicing her reading, she had something else in mind for the evening.

She carefully placed the book in a table which she had then emptied. As soon as it was in the position she wanted it in, she moved close to the window and closed her eyes, all while still having one of her arms wrapped around Snoopy. After nearly a month of practicing demonstrating her powers, she learned several methods of control, one of which was holding on to an object of value as you tried to move an object. It was all working well so far, with the majority of the objects she placed her attention on simply moving, without causing damage. At the moment, she could practically feel the large book slowly opening up…

 _Rose!_

All of a sudden, as Rose let out a small gasp, the book flipped around once and then fell off the table, landing on the floor with a soft thud. But since it was only a small scare, and she was still holding on to Snoopy, this was all that happened. If she had been more scared, or if she hadn't been applying pressure to another object, it would have been possible for the whole table to have either fallen over or even broken apart.

 _Rose! I'm back!_

It was clearly John Smith, and despite what could have been coming, Rose got a little excited. She noticed that there was little of the usual urgency and panic in his voice. As a matter of fact, he sounded the same way Mickey did when he was trying to find her during recess, as if he'd been looking forward to a particular event throughout the whole day and was finally about to experience it. If John Smith had any idea about what she'd just been doing, his voice showed no sign of it.

 _John Smith! I'm so glad that you're talking to me again! You seem to be in a good mood now._

 _Well, you can thank that on the fact that I had to go dormant for a full month._

 _Dormant? What's that supposed to mean?_

 _It means that you're in a state of rest. I can only get a limited amount of energy in the state I'm in now, so when it runs out, I have to rest, and it's during those times that I'm not able to contact you._

 _That makes sense, but why didn't you ever tell me that before?_

 _I never had to go dormant for this long in the past. After all the things you went through on the first day of school, I went through a lot of stress, to the point where I found myself falling into a deep sleep. Usually, I find myself just sitting as still as a statue and staring into blank space, and even in that state I am still able to detect some emotions and sensations, but now, I felt nothing. Nada. I have no idea what you've been up to this month, and even now, I'm finding it difficult to take in your appearance and that of the room we're in._

Rose wasn't able to see him either, and she noticed that even though he sounded cheerful, he still spoke in a rather low and weary tone, just as people sound when they just woke up in the morning.

 _Well, just so you know, we're in my bedroom._

 _Oh, yes, where the color pink is on every corner, and where princesses are always smiling down at us from posters on the walls. Probably the nicest place I've seen in years._

 _And my birthday is almost coming up._

 _Really? Thanks for reminding me. I should get my special birthday song ready, since I can't stand the ones they sing around here._

 _By the way, John Smith, you never told me where you got that song from last year. You said it was from a special place, and that was it._

She said this in an attempt to bring up all the questions she had for him. At first, John Smith didn't seem to understand the direction she was heading towards, and just laughed and said, _why should that matter, Rose? At different places, different things for certain occasions, so you'll never hear people singing the same songs for birthdays in every country in the world._

 _A lot of stuff doesn't matter to you, John Smith._

 _Now you're the one who's not making sense. I tell you only those things you need to know. Everything else is of little importance._

 _Don't you think I should at least know where you came from?_

 _I already told you that I had to leave my old home for my own safety. Isn't that enough for you? I can never understand the curiosity of young children. You want to know everything about the world, but that's just…_

 _What about the fact that you visited other people before me?_

She thought she would now be able to get her point across, but John Smith once again took this back, saying _I believe I brought up a former friend of mine during one of my first conversations with you, but you didn't understand what I was saying._

 _What do you…_ but then Rose remembered one of the first things John Smith had said to her. They had been in this exact same room, and he'd started rambling on about something after trying to explain his purpose in meeting her. He'd said, _If only I'd been able to get back to Ace_. Her mummy had once told her that ace meant to do really well in something, to the point of being an expert, so she'd believed that John Smith was talking about getting something well done once again. It wasn't until now that she thought he could have meant getting back to a person who for some reason went by that name.

 _So is that what you meant by Ace?_

 _Of course it was, and since little kids take language so literally, I knew that I could bring that name up and avoid having to answer questions about who it was. Now if I had said something like Polly or Ben or Jo, then you would not have left me alone all day…_

 _All those people you just mentioned were other friends of yours, right Doctor?_

At the mention of the word doctor, John Smith started getting frustrated. _And how do you know that, Rose Tyler, and why did you just call me doctor?_

 _Last month, I met one of your old friends; the one who has powers that are similar to mine, and we've met two more times since. Her name's Sarah Jane Smith, and if you really want to know, she was just as upset as I am now when I told her that you'd never mentioned her before._

John Smith didn't say anything.

 _I also found out that you used to travel all around time and space with a machine that had a weird name along with many friends you've never told me about before, that you're from a planet called Gallifrey, and that you're much older than you look. If all of that's not important, then I probably don't understand the meaning of important at all!_

When John Smith spoke up again, Rose was not only able to hear how upset he was, but to see it as well. He was in his hat and long coat, along with the sweater vest he sometimes wore, and it all looked wrinkled, like someone who'd been sleeping in their clothes, but what was most obvious was his dark glare and how he was looking Rose right in the eyes.

 _Rose Tyler, what did I tell you about letting other people know about your powers? Do you know how much trouble you could end up getting us into? People always talk about how curiosity kills, and perhaps you should have thought about that before opening your mouth about private matters!_

But as mad as John Smith was, so was Rose.

 _So what did you want me to do? Just sit and wait for you while all sorts of strange things happen? There had to be someone else there to help me while you were gone, and that's all Sarah Jane has done. And she reached out to me first, so I wasn't just telling some stranger about my powers. Do you really think you can do it alone,_ Doctor? _You're invisible half of the time, and people think I'm crazy when you make me talk to you, so do you really think you've been helping me that much? DO YOU?_

 _Nice seeing how much you appreciate me, you pathetic little girl. What would like me to do next, go back to Gallifrey and risk having my own people execute me because they think I'm a criminal? Or perhaps, seeing the state I'm in now, just vanish into thin air and cease to exist in any universe? Thanks for letting me use your little mind as a refuge these past two years, but since you think my time is now up, I suppose I can step out and risk an uncertain death. Goodbye, Rose. Hope you're clever enough to handle mind-reading, visions of the past and future, and telekinesis combined alone._

He wasn't actually being serious, but a strong panic now arouse inside Rose Tyler. However, instead of knocking something out this time, the small radio her mummy sometimes let her use went on, and an old song with a lively melody started playing, with the artist announced as John Smith and the Common Men:

 _When I look into your smiling face, darling_

 _And you run across the big green valley_

 _I picture you and me racing away together_

 _Our eyes locked into that sunny horizon…_

Before the song could continue, though, the radio tumbled off the table,and John Smith seemed to forget his anger, shouting, _Rose! Catch that radio now!_

It came very close to getting broken, but Rose was able to run up and catch it in time. At this point, she felt very warm, and she could feel sweat trickling down her back, but she was relieved about the fact she was able to move around.

 _That was a close one, sweetheart. We wouldn't have wanted your mummy to interfere and once again think you're crazy, right?_

He no longer sounded angry, but Rose wondered if the matter was really settled. _Did you mean all that stuff you were saying, John Smith? Are you really going to leave me?_

 _Of course I'm not. Can't you understand sarcasm when you hear it? At least now I can tell you one similarity between you and Sarah Jane Smith besides your powers: neither one of you can stand the idea of me leaving you, even when you both give off the impression of being strong enough to take matters into your own hands. But of course, Sarah Jane somehow learned to move on, and so did the majority of my companions. Part of the reason I never brought them up is because children always like thinking ahead, and that's what I need from you now._

 _But Sarah Jane told me that she never really moved on. She went back to her job and family and friends, but she never stopped waiting for you. Deep down, all she's ever wanted is to get back in your time machine and travel with you once again._

John Smith now looked a bit sad. _I guess you're right. And here I was, thinking that sending K9 to her would have been enough for her to stop with those wishes, but once again, I was wrong._

 _I've actually met K9 as well, and I already know that he was another friend of yours. Sarah Jane said that when she first got him, he would be kept turned off in her room and no one would ever see him, but when she started taking care of my friend Mickey Smith, he found him and was able to get him turned on all on his own, so now he likes spending a lot of time outside, and some people in her neighborhood know about him as well._

John Smith laughed at this. _Just what I thought. Can you really expect a clever robotic dog from the year 5000 to remain dormant for so long? But then again, I was the one who wrote to her about keeping him away from other humans. No one is ever able to fully follow my demands._

 _I can see why. You ask too much and tell so little._

 _You can say that again, sweetheart. I could go on some more about this, but it's getting late, and you have to go to bed soon._

 _But before you go, would you mind telling me at least a little bit about all this? Perhaps starting with Gallifrey?_

John Smith sighed, but he went on. _All right. Here's the story of how I got to you:_

 _After I left my last friend, the one called Ace, I went back to Gallifrey on the TARDIS, and my people, the Time Lords, were at the start of a conflict. Some of our enemies had gotten into Gallifrey and convinced them that I was the one who send them there so that I would be able to do as I pleased when I traveled in the TARDIS, so as soon as they saw me, they had me imprisoned and then sentenced to death. This had already happened before, so they were now determined to execute me on the spot if necessary. Yet, once again, I managed to get away, because at the moment of execution, I turned invisible. How it happened is something that I still have no idea about, but just as a riot was starting among the Time Lords, between those who thought I was a criminal and those who knew I was innocent, I ran off and managed to find the place where they'd stored the TARDIS, and as soon as I was in, I once again left Gallifrey._

 _When I got to Earth, the TARDIS no longer worked, and when I got outside of it, I was fully invisible to everyone. Everything went so badly that I was almost at the point of death. However, I was seen by a psychic gypsy woman in France, and she told me that by getting into the head of someone with psychic abilities, I could stay alive. She found the TARDIS and stored it in a secret place where I could still find today without worrying about thieves. I was with her for three months, having a couple of adventures and nearly forgetting all the trouble I was in. Then she said that the time she could spend with me was running out, so she was sending me to the place in the world I was most familiar with, where there was a child that needed me, saying that the innocent mind of a child could keep alive for as much as ten years. Afterwards, she recited a chant that send me off to you, and that's how I ended up here with you._

John Smith was now starting to fade away, becoming fully invisible within fifteen seconds. Rose called out, _Do you have to go now, John Smith?_

 _I do, but here's one last thing. You know that song that was playing on your radio?_

 _Yeah?_

 _I first got the name John Smith from the name of the band that plays it, which is John Smith and the Common Man. I was traveling with my granddaughter, Susan, at the time, and she loved the way the song sounded so similar to the birthday song we use in Gallifrey. We were almost convinced that the members of the band had met up with a Time Lord and stolen the song from them, but we never found out of this was true. So if you want my birthday song and I'm not able to appear to you, try tuning in to the old radio stations or buy a record or CD from the band. The name of the song is "Running Across the Valley of Time"._

And with that, John Smith was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

_The time has come once again_

 _To run across the big green valley_

 _Where all of time and space is stretched out_

 _And with _ years of running_

 _You and the universe are getting closer than ever_

The Time Lord's birthday song

 **30** **th** **of October 1992**

On account of a night of agony, Jackie Tyler almost forgot that it was Rose's birthday.

Throughout the night, she'd heard the wind howling extremely loudly, with a strong resemblance to what you'd hear from a dog or a wolf. There had been no rain or other severe weather, but that horrible noise had lasted for almost three hours without a single break. Even after putting on earplugs and spending some time in the living room just lying around the couch with the telly on, she was still able to hear it all perfectly. And to make matters even more stranger, Rose had been sleeping perfectly well the entire time. Since Rose was almost always aware of unusual noises, and would remain restless if she heard something like that during the night, this scared Jackie. And when it all came to an end, the door to Jackie's room had slammed shut three times in a row. There had been no open window or any object nearby which could have triggered it, and once again, this noise did not wake Rose up. It seemed as if all these noises of horror were specifically targeting Jackie only.

So that morning, when Rose started eagerly hugging her and saying, "Come on, mummy! Aren't you going to say anything?" all Jackie did at first was gently back away from her daughter and say, "Calm down, Rose. I had a bad night."

Rose now looked at her with that anxious expression that indicated she understood that something was going wrong. "Was it really that bad?"

"Did you hear anything unusual during the night?"

"No, mummy; I slept very well. Are you saying that something bad went on as I was sleeping?"

And then, Jackie took a glance at the calendar which hung on the refrigerator. For the month of October, there was a photo of a large tree with leaves which were fully orange, a large wheel hanging in one of the branches, and an oversized pumpkin on the ground. Jackie always circled important dates with a black marker, no matter how obvious they were (a habit she'd acquired at a young age), and right on the 30th, a sloppy fat circle surrounded the square from which the date could be found. Seeing this made her feel deeply embarrassed. Here she was, only twenty-three years old and already forgetting her own daughter's birthday! Something really was wrong with her.

"Forget about that for now, sweetheart. Happy birthday!" she said with an awkward chuckle, and she put Rose in her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Rose smiled in spite of how strange she thought her mother's behavior was. "Are you sure you're all right, mummy? You almost act as if you forgot my birthday."

"Why would I do that, Rosie? Mummies never forget birthdays. I'm just acting strange because I'm tired," she managed to reply.

In twenty minutes, the blueberry pancakes were ready, and the two ate breakfast as if nothing strange had been said at all. Jackie reminded Rose of Ella's plans to prepare tea and the cake for the afternoon and promised to have her present ready as soon as she got home, and Rose let her know once again that she was having her playmate, Mickey Smith, come over.

When she took Rose to school, she said, "Have a good day, sweetheart."

"I hope so," she responded in a small voice as she started getting ready to leave the car. "And I hope you have a good day as well, mummy." She said this with such concern and caution that Jackie knew she hadn't stopped worrying about the way she'd been acting this morning.

Before Jackie started driving, she looked up into the cloudy horizon and prayed that nothing terrible would happen on this day. After all she and Rose had been through, and all the efforts she was making to quit drinking (she'd now gone a whole month without taking a single sip of alcohol), she thought they at least deserved to be able to celebrate Rose's birthday in peace.

...

Upon her arrival at Rolling Meadows, Hannah was sitting in a bench that was a significant distance away from the building. As soon as she saw Jackie driving by, she started slowly waving her arm around, indicating that she had to see her immediately. With one eye on the building (at this time, nearly everyone was inside preparing for the morning class), and the other on her desperate friend, Jackie already knew where she would head towards.

Hannah had lost about ten pounds in the last month, and since she'd been slender before, the weight loss made her appear weak to the point of sickness. Her face remained as white as a sheet all the time, and the heavy eyelids never went away, as the insomnia was now a nightly occurrence. Even though it was only fifty degrees outside, she wore a white overcoat and a long, red woolen scarf that covered her whole neck. Yet, despite all her distress, she managed to give Jackie that sunny smile which she'd always had. "Good morning, Jackie. How has Rose's birthday been so far?"

"Well, I can tell you that Rose has been doing better now. She hasn't had one of strange incidents in months, and she's inviting a friend from school over for tea and cake. We'll probably be having fish and chips again, but at least it's something, you know?"

The forced cheerful tone was doing very little to hide how she was really feeling, and she could already see Hannah's smile slowly fading away. Hiding things from her was now impossible, and Jackie found herself giving off the whole truth. "I almost forgot all about it, Hannah. Last night, I don't think I slept at all. I kept hearing the wind howling like some kind of animal for hours…"

"So you heard it too?"

Words couldn't express how Jackie felt at the moment. "Are you saying that..."

"I keep having these strange sensations at night. Five nights ago, I could feel someone gripping my shoulders every couple of seconds. At one point, I was almost pushed off the bed, and I felt as if I was being strangled. But right when I was going to start screaming, it was all over, as if it was all in my imagination or some awful dream."

"And you're sure it wasn't just that?"

" I'm certain. How else could you explain how we both heard the same thing last night? But I didn't just hear it howl, Jackie. Around midnight, I actually heard it scream like some person who was in a deep fright. It probably only lasted for about five seconds, but I still can't get that awful noise out of my head. I don't know what's wrong with me, but if you're going through all of this too, then I'm almost convinced there's something out there haunting us, something that just won't leave us be."

And just then, there was the mysterious woman again, standing right in front of them.

She was now wearing a white jumpsuit that looked like something you would wear in space, matching boots, and dark sunglasses. As soon as she set eyes on the two women, she removed the sunglasses and simply stared at them for about a minute. While the last time they'd seen her, she seemed really dark and threatening, she now had this sorrowful look in her eyes, almost as if she now felt sympathy for them. Also, she looked a lot more youthful, as if she was a teenager or her early twenties.

"What are you doing here?" Jackie finally asked.

"I'm here as a warning," the woman responded.

"Of what?" Hannah asked nervously.

"Hard times will be coming for both of you," she answered in a soft voice. "I have no idea what will happen, but from what you've both claimed to experience, I can already tell that it's anything but good."

"And you're not even going to try to help us?" Jackie asked angrily. "In case you didn't know, today is my daughter's sixth birthday, and all I want is to have at least one day where we can just relax. If you have to go on with your secret identity and your prophecies of doom, why not actually do something to try to stop this? If you could save us once, why not do it again?"

The woman shook her head sadly. "Just because I mentioned hard times doesn't mean you're about to face death again. People are often forced to live in hardship their whole lives, often to the point where they may want to give it all up. As for birthdays, people are born every day, just as life goes on for everyone else. Just because it's someone's date of birth doesn't mean all will go in their favor on that day."

In her writing, Jackie kept reimaginng this woman. In one short story from two weeks ago, she'd written of a woman who had lost everything in a future war, including her memories. All she could remember was that urgency to rescue someone, so she spend her days intervening in all those tragic incidents that go on every day, saving women who were being beaten by husbands or boyfriends, buying snacks for children who had been left abandoned in alleys, or chasing thieves that had robbed struggling shoppkeepers of all that remained of their money. Jackie kept thinking that this woman was some kind of survivor, someone who'd put everything at risk for someone a long time ago and could now only be at peace by being the heroine in dangerous situations.

"As a child, all I ever got for my birthday were songs," the woman continued. "And it was always the same one every year. It wasn't so much a part of a celebration as it was a reminder that we're always getting older, and that time is always racing ahead of us. It may seem a bit harsh to those who are used to happy parties and getting showered with gifts, but in your own words, Jacqueline, at least it's something, you know?"

Yes; this woman had certainly gone through something...

All of sudden, an alarm went off, and one by one, all of the teachers at Rolling Meadows came running out. Many of them had at least one child beside them, either holding their hand, trying to get them into lines or groups, or even carrying them. A lot of the kids were crying and clinging to the teachers in fear.

"What happened?" Hannah asked in panic.

Lisa Holmes glared at them and said, "Why don't you go see for yourself? You might risk your lives, but at least you'll see what you were missing as you just lingered around as if you were on holiday."

Jackie and Hannah looked behind them, and immediately saw the Rolling Meadows Nursey School being consumed in flames.


	10. Chapter 10

As the Rolling Meadows Nursery School was seeing its final days, Rockwell Primary School was soon to experience its own horrors as well.

At the end of every month, due to the school's high number of low-income students, the lower grades were visited by five student aids from St. Teresa of Avila Academy, which was just down the road. On the day of Rose's birthday, the student aide for year one was none other than thirteen-year-old Heather Marsh, the youngest daughter of Violet and Tom Marsh. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, was generally good-natured while also being assertive when she felt she needed to be, and inherited the high level of curiosity and passion for justice which were a large part of the personalities of her parents.

When Rose saw her entering the classroom, she waved eagerly, and Heather immediately smiled and walked up to her. "Don't think I forgot your birthday, Rose," she said, handing her a small card with an electric guitar topping off a three-layered birthday cake and a mini Hershey's chocolate taped to the tip of the card.

"Thanks, Heather," Rose whispered, since she didn't want to attract the attention of her classmates.

However, more than a couple of the kids took notice of the student aide's little present to the class scapegoat, and they were not pleased about it.

 _What a loser she must be if only the aide gives her a card for her stupid birthday._

 _No way am I giving saying happy birthday to that loony, even if Ms. Bryan gets mad at me._

 _So she thinks she's a rock star? She really must be nuts._

 _Will she try getting something from John Smith as well?_

Hearing all of these hidden insults, Rose tried to turn her back from all of them, focusing on creating a good picture with the broken crayons Ms. Bryan had placed on all their desks before class started. Today was art day, meaning drawing and a lesson on painting.

"Thank you for coming here, Heather," Ms. Bryan said in that friendly tone she used whenever she was trying to get someone to feel welcome into the classroom. "It's nice having someone who's friendly with the kids for once. Our last aide was a little… different, I suppose."

Last month, they'd been served by Magda Wilson, a stubborn redhead who'd sulked around the whole time Ms. Bryan didn't have her occupied and gave the kids those same dirty looks that older siblings gave them when they were annoyed. Rose had heard what her mummy called "very vulgar language" coming out of her mind, and it could easily be guessed that she wouldn't be returning in October.

"I know what you mean, Ms. Bryan," Heather said with a nod. "The only time you can ever get Magda Wilson to do anything is if she's sure she'll be getting…"

"No need to get into details, dear. Just start passing out the paint and brushes."

Heather started gathering the twenty bottles of paint that were stored in the large closet which was in the middle of the classroom. Many of the things in there were so old that they were fully covered in dust, including two of the four oversized brushes for which the kids were always fighting among themselves in order to be able to use. Heather, who was usually used to everything being a little untidy or dirty, almost considered leaving those brushes along with the yellowing paper and crayons which looked like they'd been bought fifty years ago. However, she decided there couldn't be much harm in them and placed them along with all the other art supplies.

As she passed everything out, some of the kids were whispering among themselves. One boy started chuckling in a rather mean-spirited matter, and the girl sitting beside him pointed at the table where Rose was sitting. As soon as he saw Heather, the chuckling boy yanked one of the dusty brushes out of the cart, along with a bottle of pure red paint, without a smear of some other color in it.

"What's with the rush?" Heather asked.

"Nothing. We just like art, okay?" the boy responded, sounding annoyed.

"All right, mate. No need to get all worked up about it," Heather said, doing her best not to get too upset over the boy's attitude.

"Have you got it all, Kenny?" the boy sitting next to him whispered.

"Yeah," Kenny answered, and they all started getting to work.

Rose had not noticed what was going on at this table. As Heather came by once again, she was still trying to work on her drawing, yet there was this look of anxiety on her face, almost as if she wanted to avoid something which she couldn't name. Upon handing her two bottles of yellow and purple paint and the other dusty brush, Heather wondered if she should ask her if something was wrong or just let her be. Upon thinking about, she suspected that there was something Rose wished to discuss with someone but she just couldn't, and that all the other kids had a part on this. She had not failed to notice the cruel glances some of them had given her after handing her the card, so she decided that the best way to help Rose was to avoid drawing any attention towards her, and after handing all the essential supplies to the kids at her table, she just moved on.

By the time everything was handed out, Kenny and his friends had completed their secret task. Ms. Bryan and Heather went to the headmistress' office to get some paperwork, so now was the perfect opportunity to put their plan to action. Olivia Gordon, who was seated the closest to Rose, threw the large piece of paper under her chair. Upon seeing that something was on the ground, Rose looked down and got a hold of the paper. It was shaped in a rather clumsy manner like a Hallmark card, but on the cover, there was what appeared to a red flower marked by a big X around it. On the inside, with the same red paint, this was written:

GET LOST

Upon reading this, Rose's face turned the same color as the paint which adorned the card. Kenny and his friends went hysterical with laughter, and several of the other kids turned around to get a look. But her humiliation wasn't over yet.

"Happy birthday, Red Rose!" Kenny yelled, and then he dumped what remained of the red paint all over her.

Rose shrieked in horror, and now, nearly all the kids joined in the chorus of laughter. "Happy birthday, Red Rose!" they sang, pointing at her with their thumbs, and one boy even gave her the middle finger. "Happy birthday to you, loony!"

 _John Smith, where are you?_ Was all Rose could think. _I need you! John Smith, I need you!_

But instead of seeing John Smith, she saw a young woman with unruly brown hair coming out of the storage closet. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the back of her neck was twisted around, looking seriously disfigured. When she saw Rose, she gave her a frightening smile, like one which would come out of a witch.

"Guess I should join the party as well, don't you think so, birthday girl?" she said in a raspy voice, sounding like someone who was ill. "Come on, little girl, give me a nice smile." And then, she sang in a high-pitched voice, "Happy birthday, Red Rose! Happy birthday to you!" finishing off with a hysterical laugh.

Rose let out a blood shattering scream just as Heather Marsh opened the door of the classroom. "Rose! What happened to you? What did they…"

At that moment, all the lights went off, leaving the classroom and the whole school in full darkness. Now, there were horrific screams heard all over Rockwell Primary School, and Rose's tormenters were probably the most frightened of them all.

The only child who wasn't screaming at that moment was Rose, whom had collapsed onto the floor as soon as the room went black, and the last thing she had heard were not Heather's concerning questions, but the crazy woman's laughter, which had gone on in her mind until she had blacked out.

…

An hour later, Rose was lying down on a bed at the nurse's office of St. Teresa of Avila Academy. A middle-aged woman with a dark dress and a wooden cross around her neck was going over something in a desk, and seated on the bed was Heather Marsh, who was looking down at her with a mixture of both sadness and relief.

"Sister Joan, I think she's awake," Heather called out to the nun who also happened to be the school nurse.

Sister Joan walked up to them with a cold glass of water and a thermometer. "How is she?" she asked.

"She looks a bit pale, but I don't think she's seriously sick," Heather responded. "Like I said before, she didn't look like there was anything physically wrong with her at school. What was wrong was that she was nervous about something, and right when I walked back into the class, she was all covered in red paint with everyone laughing at her. It was at that moment that the lights went out and she fell to the ground."

"Where am I?" Rose finally managed to ask.

Heather held her hand and said, "We're at my school. As a matter of fact, everyone is. There was a blackout at Rockwell, and right when it happened, you must have had some sort of fright, because you just collapsed onto the floor. Some of the other kids started falling as well, but they're fine now. I think you're the only one who might have fainted."

"Did you see anything that was strange when you got in?" Rose said. She didn't care if she sounded crazy at this point. She just had to know if anyone else saw the woman.

"Just you covered in red paint with all those buggers laughing at you," Heather responded, shaking her head in frustration. "If it hadn't been for the blackout, I would have gotten back at them somehow. I don't think I've ever seen such nasty little brats in my life!"

"Now, Heather," Sister Joan demanded, "What are we always telling you all about revenge?"

Heather sighed. "An eye for an eye is not the way to go, but forgiveness can lead us anywhere. I understand that, but you should have seen those kids for yourself, Sister Joan. They seem to have no respect for anyone, not if they can do such an awful thing to one of their schoolmates. As a matter of fact, I think it was the humiliation that caused Rose to have that blackout."

"Nonsense, my dear. Humiliation can cause all sorts of things, but that alone can't cause illness. I think the girl might have some undiagnosed condition. Her teacher said there had been at least two other incidents like this on her medical records from nursery school. Rose should get a medical diagnosis as soon as possible."

But Rose was hearing none of this. Instead, she was seeing herself two years ago during the first time she'd had those blackouts. She had been alone in her mother's room, looking at some of the papers her mother was using to write a novel in and tossing them around when she was done looking at them. It was all so difficult for her to read that she wondered how anyone would be interested in it at all.

Within a couple of minutes, her mummy, who had been alone in the dining room drinking a glass of beer, had pushed the door open in rage. Some kind of force seemed to have control over her, which made her become cruel and angry for no particular reason. At the time, what triggered this was seeing everything she had been working on for the last couple of months in complete disorder, scattered all over the floor as if it were all just rubbish; something which wasn't worthy of being seen by anyone. It felt as if her own daughter were deliberately insulting her.

"What the hell are you doing here, Rose? Haven't I told you thousands of times not to set foot in my bloody room if I'm not in here?" she screamed.

"But mummy," Rose had said in a frightened tone. "I wanted to see them. I wanted to see the stories…"

"Stay away from them! They're not for you! They should never have been seen by you at all!"

"But who will, mummy?"

Just then, Jackie had had enough. She'd shoved Rose with all the strength she'd had within her, and something had snapped as Rose fell to the floor. It had been her arm's bone, and the pain had caused her to scream in agony. This had resulted in a slap in the cheek and another push. This time, everything around Rose had instantly gone black…

"Rose? You okay?" Heather asked, noticing that the anxiety was returning.

"Are you sure you saw nothing else in the classroom?" was all Rose could ask.

Heather gave Sister Joan a worried glance and said, "I'm sure. Try not to think about that right now. I called my dad a while ago, and he said he was going to pick you, me, and Mickey up. Might even take you guys out for pizza if you're up for it."

"Have you tried calling my mummy yet?"

"She couldn't be reached," Sister Joan said.

"What about Sarah Jane?"

"She's supposed to be working on some project today. Just yesterday, I told her that I was going to be assisting your class, and she told me to say happy birthday for her," Heather said, looking a little sad.

"This is not a good birthday," Rose said unhappily.

"Of course it isn't, but we could at least try making this afternoon a little better. Is that all right with you?"

"Sure."

Heather hugged her and gave her the glass of water and some crackers. Sister Joan went outside to assist some of the teachers and students who were in the halls, many of whom were still deeply frightened. By the time Tom Marsh arrived at the school, there were four other people being assisted at the nurse's office, and Rose had almost fully recovered from the blackout.

Tom Marsh, a man of average height who still spoke in an Irish accent after living in England for twenty-seven years (he was from Northern Ireland) and who was almost the complete opposite of his wife when it came to temperament, shook Sister Joan's hand and even greeted some of the nervous teachers before walking up to Rose and his daughter

"Hi there, sweetheart. Are you ready to go now?" he asked Rose gently.

"I think so."

"Don't be afraid to talk to us about it if you want to. Is that okay?"

"Sure."

Tom nodded and then escorted the girls out of the office. Mickey, who had been waiting quietly for over an hour to see Rose, came along with them. They left just as many others stayed behind, remaining just as nervous and unsure of things as before.

If Tom had been around at the time of the blackout, he would have been completely aware of what was going on. He'd known about Sarah Jane's ESP since university, where she'd had a blackout quite similar to the one Rose had after being given too much alcohol at a party when they were freshman. Just as his daughter Heather was now the one who'd helped Rose, he and Violet had been the ones who'd taken Sarah to the university's infirmary and had helped the school's authorities track down the ones responsible for the incident. Sarah had told them everything about her powers after her recovery, and from that moment on, the three of them had become inseparable, with Tom and Violet remaining her most loyal friends for years to come.

However, because he got there after it was all over, Tom Marsh did not suspect that Rose had just experienced something similar, and Rose did not say a word about it to the Marshes on that day.


	11. Chapter 11

It was all too much for her. As soon as she saw the orange flames consuming the building she'd been working in for the past two years, Jackie knew she'd just hit rock bottom. For a couple of minutes, she neglected her duties, and even though she'd done it for Hannah, she still had to pay for it the hard way.

"Jackie?" It was Karen, looking even more devastated than she was. Of course, she was going to suffer as well, but this was probably her first tragedy. She was going to be able to move on sooner or later, but for Jackie, it was just another incident to add to her list. She even had the feeling that they might not be working together anymore.

"Don't, Karen! I know what you're going to say to me," she finally said.

"This wasn't anyone's fault, Jackie. They think it came from a broken wire…"

"It doesn't matter what started it! I should have gotten there right on time; I should have been there for the kids."

"Jackie, everyone made it out of the building safely. We were quite lucky, as a matter of fact."

Jackie then turned around, hoping to get at least one glance at the woman in white. But once again, she had vanished. Just when trouble was at their corner, she had to go. What a coward.

"Look, we'll settle things somehow. We'll find a place to set up as a temporary classroom, and…"

But Jackie couldn't hear her any longer. She felt as if just her presence was bringing bad luck to them. Perhaps if she left them all for good, the kids could go on with their classes without any incidents, Karen wouldn't have to deal with any more difficult aides, and Hannah would finally have some peace. Yes, that would certainly give her more ease.

So then, without thinking twice, without trying to explain her choices to Karen, she started to run. Recalling her PE courses, where the teacher was always hollering at her and threatening to fail her if she slowed down once again, and also her father, who used to chase her around their small apartment whenever he got into one of his drunken rages, sometimes holding a belt, but with his big hard hands always being his main weapon, Jackie just went on and on. As far as she could tell, no one was after her. However, the wailing of the children, particularly the sound of George crying out "Whe- where's Ms. Ty-Tyler and Ms. Lew-Lewis? Where ar-are th-they?" was something which she would continue hearing in her darkest moments many years later.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a honking car. _Go ahead_ , she found herself thinking. _If you run me over, at least I'll have met the same fate as Pete. Maybe we will finally be together again_. She couldn't think about Rose at all at that moment. If it had all ended there, she would have not cared. Yet she still ran, though she did it without turning around even once.

And then, she hit the ground, falling flat on the sidewalk.

She heard a car door being slammed shut, and before she knew it, there was a man standing in front of her, offering her his hand. "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked with concern. He had slightly wavy brown hair and wore a dark blue coat.

"I think so. I'm sorry about the trouble I caused you. I honestly don't know what had gotten into me."

"Don't apologize. I was the one who almost ran over you," the man responded, helping Jackie up. As she recovered her strength, she noticed he seemed to be closely inspecting her, most likely for injuries. Seeing that she was all right, he nodded and said, "You got lucky. You've got no injuries that I can spot.

"You look as if you're used to doing these sort of things," Jackie stated.

The man smiled and nodded. "You can say that again. I happen to be a doctor."

"Just my luck. Never liked that lot, to be honest, but you seem all right. What kind of doctor are you?"

"Well, I started out as a medical officer, but then went on to do bigger and better things."

Jackie laughed. "And what would that be?"

"For now, all I can say is that I got involved in research," the man responded.

It was only now that Jackie noticed two young girls coming out of the man's car. One of them looked about eight or nine years old, with curly shoulder-length dark hair and the kind of tan you see in people who are always at the beach. The other looked around Rose's age, with fair skin and long brown hair tied up into a braid. The two of them ran up to where the man and Jackie were standing with what appeared to be looks of panic.

"Doc, how is she?" the oldest girl asked. Jackie noticed that she spoke with a southern American accent.

"She seems to be adjusting quite well, Christine. No need to get too worried," the man replied, giving the girl a reassuring smile.

"But I saw her next to that burning building we passed by just a while ago. Clara noticed it too, right Clara?" and she turned to look at the younger girl.

"Yes, indeed," Clara answered.

The man now looked at Jackie with concern once again. "Is that true, ma'am? Did you come from that building?"

At that exact moment, they could all hear the sirens of the fire trucks which were starting to go by. Christine got what seemed to be a knowing expression on her face, as if she understood more than she was willing to reveal, and for a moment, she just stared at Jackie. Clara actually shivered, looking a little scared.

Upon looking at Christine, the man gently tugged her shoulder, making the girl look up with a shudder. He gave what seemed to be some kind of signal, and for a while, Christine whispered something into his ear. The man listened closely for a while, then started whispering something back to her. Christine responded by nodding and then turning to Clara, saying, "Come on, Clara. Let's get back in the car." But right before following her companion back in, Christine shook Jackie's hand with a bright smile on her face. "I hope you stay well, ma'am, and sorry about what happened at the school."

"Okay, Christine, that's enough. Get back in the car. We'll be leaving in a minute," the man said with a tone that sounded both cheerful and firm. Christine finally said, "Okay, Doc. Whatever you say," and rushed back in with Clara, who was looking around with that worried expression still on her face.

"So, who are those girls?" Jackie asked.

The man smiled "They're actually my patients. Christine is from Florida, while Clara doesn't live too far from London. Good girls, but a little too curious for their own good."

"So you work with people from the states?"

"I happen to live there nine months of the year, as a matter of fact." Then, looking at the ambulance that was still close by, he said, "Are you sure you're all right? Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No, sir. I think I can handle it on my own."

"Okay. Would you like a ride back home?"

"No, thank you. I have my own car not far from here."

"All right." Then, looking at the girls in the car for a while, he said, "But if you ever need help with something that's… well… out of the ordinary, here's my card," and he handed her a small card which only had a number in it.

"Thank you, sir," Jackie said, feeling rather odd. "By the way, what's your…"

Before she could finish, she noticed that the man had immediately gotten back in the car, driving away a couple of seconds later.

Two hours later, Jackie found herself driving around a posh neighborhood that was about a five-minute drive from Rose's school. She could have gotten there sooner if she hadn't had to stop by at a café and have some coffee while trying to take in all that she had just witnessed.

The Rolling Meadows Nursery School was gone.

Rose's school had experienced some strange blackout around the same time that the fire occurred. She'd learned that Rose had fainted seconds before the blackout had occurred. All the students and teachers had then been escorted to the Catholic preparatory school which was right next to the school. It was here where Jackie had found a lot of parents coming in to pick up their kids.

Most of this had been explained to her by a nun named Sister Joan, who happened to be the school nurse and had been treating Rose before some friends of her schoolmate Mickey had come to pick her up. She went to say how Rose had been taken into her office by her teacher and a girl named Heather Marsh while was fully unconcious, and how she seemed to have a quick recovery afterwards.

"All I can say, Ms. Tyler, is that I've never seen something like what happened your daughter before, and you should try to get help for her as soon as possible," Sister Joan had told her. After this, she wrote down the address of a couple by the name of Tom and Violet Marsh (even adding in that they were in the music business), and then said goodbye to her, offering to pray for both her and her daughter, but also reminding her that she couldn't depend on miracles alone.

An hour later, Jackie was looking rather dizzily at this part of London which seemed so foreign to her despite having lived in the city her whole life. The coffee had settled her nerves a little, but there was little she could do to stop herself from feeling nervous. She had already noticed some of the residents frowning as they looked at her old car, and she worried about what the people whom her daughter was staying would be like.

So she was surprised when a man with unruly brown hair, an oversized Pink Floyd shirt, and ragged jeans, whom she could only assume to be Tom Marsh, answered the door. He smiled at her and said in an Irish accent, "Hi there, Mrs. Tyler. Come on in. Rose has been waiting for you."

They walked across what seemed to Jackie like a posh junkyard. She could see paper and magazines littering up a fancy velvet carpet in the living room, and the glass coffee table was covered with paperback books, cassettes, and a bag of crisps. On the walls, you could find priceless works of art, including a lot of Van Gough and Monet, along with posters of many musicians, ranging from the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and Bob Dylan, to Blondie, Depeche Mode, and Michael Jackson. Then, of course, were all the portraits of family and friends, with some looking as if they came from the nineteenth century.

"Wow. This seems a little unusual," was all Jackie could say.

Tom laughed. "Yeah. We hear that a lot when we get visitors."

"One of the nuns at your daughter's school said that you and your wife are in the music business. Isn't that something which would normally be frowned upon by at a place like that?" She then blushed, feeling as if that was something which might be seen as offensive, but Tom only laughed at this remark. "You've obviously never met a nun before. They're not all as serious and prudish as some people make them out to be."

"Well, I wasn't raised in a religious household, so all I know is what I hear."

"I understand. My wife Violet was raised Anglican, and when we were about to get married in the early seventies, I heard every possible objection you can imagine from her folks. The conflict in Northern Ireland didn't help make things any easier."

"Well, religion aside, this doesn't really seem the kind of place where people like you would want to settle down in. The neighbors looked at me as if I was an alien when I drove by"

Tom only looked through the smoggy windows and shook his head. "Sorry to say that a lot of the folks here are like that. Pretty snobbish and arrogant. But we're lucky enough to have a friend living here as well. From our university years, as a matter of fact."

"Good for you," Jackie responded. "Now, where's Rose?"

"Over here. The poor girl seems to have taken it all pretty well so far. Seeing as how it's her birthday, she's just hoping to forget all the fear from before and enjoy the rest of the day as much as possible. My kids, Heather and Eric, have been really nice to her, and Mickey is just as great as always."

And that was just what Rose was doing. She was sitting in the large dining room table eating pizza and laughing at something Mickey was saying. Red stains could be seen in her black school jumper and parts of her face and hair. Beside them sat a slightly overweight blond girl in a skintight black blouse and an older, slender boy in a grey sweatshirt, whom Jackie assumed were Tom's children. They both appeared to be trying to amuse the younger kids, and it seemed that their efforts were successful.

"Mummy! You're here," Rose called when she finally saw her mother.

Jackie gave her daughter a kiss. "It's so good to see you, sweetheart. I know it's all been tough today, but it's not over yet. We can still celebrate your birthday."

"Yes. I hope we can," was all Rose said.

"Am I still going to go over with you guys?" Mickey asked.

"Of course, dear. Everything's still going according to plan."

And it would. The events of today just couldn't change that.

Just then, Tom walked up to her, saying, "You left your bag in the hallway, Mrs. Tyler. Thought I should give it back to you."

"Of course. Thanks." But upon getting it, she ended up pulling out some items which she couldn't recall having placed in there before.

First, there was a bottle which seemed like those which held medicine. It held a green-looking liquid and came with a label which simply said ESR.

Then, there was a picture which looked as if it was done by a young child. On the left, there was a little blond girl, and on the right, there was a picture of what appeared to be a large dog. There was an arrow between the two figures, and at the bottom, this was written:

Do you know the bad wolf?

And immediately, Jackie remembered how that girl named Clara had gotten behind her as Christine had been shaking her hand, and how she had been whispering something to that man before coming up to her.

And then that card. In case anything out of the ordinary happened.

Perhaps she was going to have to use it after all.

But not now. It was still Rose's birthday, after all.


	12. Chapter 12

**November**

It seemed as if things only kept getting worse for Rose. Within a day after what was her worst birthday ever, she found out about the fire which occurred at the nursery school and how her mummy would no longer have a job because of this. No other nursery schools were hiring so late in the autumn, so the only places where she could look for work were in the shops, where the pay would be a lot lower than what she got as an aide. She had tried to send in a short story she had written several months before to a literary journal, but it was rejected, meaning she would have no choice but to get one of those bad jobs.

At school, there had been three days of no classes after the blackout, during which Rose spend most of her time with Mickey and the Marshes. When this was done, any signs of happiness among teachers and students were all gone. Ms. Bryan rarely smile anymore, giving the students nervous looks if she ever attempted to sound cheerful. She also rarely left the classroom, going so far as to send some of the students to run any errands in the office instead of doing it herself.

The kids themselves still seemed very scared about it, and what happened to Rose was still clear in their minds. However, instead of being nicer to her or going on with their teasing, they avoided her as often as possible. If she walked by one of them at recess, they would turn in the other direction and slowly walk away. When she asked someone something, they'd just say "yeah" or "no". Mickey acted as if this was a good thing because they were no longer trying to hurt her, but somehow, this still bothered Rose. She understood that sometimes, being ignored was worse than having everyone calling you names or beating you up. At least when they did that, you were aware of what they thought of you.

Two weeks after her birthday, Rose was able to speak with John Smith again. Just as the last time, she was alone in her room, only now she had been in there for about three hours. She was eating a bowl of corn flakes along with chocolate milk. Her mummy had been in her room all afternoon and had not come out to make tea, so Rose had to get her own food. She wasn't afraid because she assumed she was just asleep.

 _Did you miss me, Rose?_ was the first thing she heard him say.

Rose had been so shocked that she dropped her plastic cup of chocolate milk, and it fell on the spotless carpet, getting all over a drawing she'd done of a dog an hour before.

 _Of course I did, John Smith. Or should I call you "Doctor" instead?_

 _For all I care, you could call me "Professor" if you wanted to. That's how Ace used to call me._

 _Well, you don't look like a professor to me, or even like a doctor. I think I'll just keep calling you John Smith._

 _I think I like that better too. The name "Doctor" has raised too many questions in the past._

At that moment, Rose could see him looking around at her room, and he did not seem pleased.

 _For how long have you been stuck in here?_ He demanded.

 _Well, I got out of here a while ago to get some cereal and milk. Mummy's in her room, and I think she's asleep,_ Rose tried to explain.

This answer did not seem to satisfy John Smith. _Cereal and milk don't make a proper supper, Rose. If your mother has stayed this long in her room, then there's probably something wrong,_ he said in a very cautionary voice.

 _So what do you think I should do?_

 _Walk up to her room and open the door! What could be more simple than that?_

Rose sighed and started walking out of her room. In the past, her mummy would sometimes lock the door of her room and leave her alone for hours. At times, John Smith would appear to her and try to keep her calm until her mummy would come out, but he would never tell her to go to her room.

 _How come you've never made me do this before, John Smith?_

 _Because back then, your mother would get dangerously drunk and I didn't want her to try hurting you. But it seems like she's no longer drinking anymore, so I can now let you do these kinds of things._

Upon walking through the hallways, Rose stood still for a while. _Are you sure I can do this?_

 _Don't be afraid, Rose. If there was some kind of danger, I'd be able to sense it, even though I don't have ESP._

 _Really?_

 _Yeah, and for that you can thank Nina the French gypsy. But more on that later. Go ahead now._

Rose put her hand around the doorknob, and to her relief, it was not locked. She opened it, and stepped in.

The typewriter was on the large brown desk, with a piece of paper with only one line written still set up around it. Just as Rose thought, Jackie was sprawled around the bed in her clothes, fast asleep.

 _Should I try waking her up, John Smith?_

 _What time is it?_

 _I think it's around seven._

 _Then just let her be. If you wake her up, it won't do her any good._

But just as soon as he said that, her mummy started moving around. At first, it seemed as if she was just tossing and turning in her sleep. Within a few seconds, however, her eyes flickered open. She rubbed her eyes, and upon catching a glimpse of her daughter, she mumbled, "Rose, who are you talking to?"

"Well, I…

 _Rose, don't say anything about me._

 _Then what should I…_

"It's John Smith again, isn't it?"

"No, it's just…"

 _Walk out of there if you can._

"Rose, if this John Smith nonsense keeps going on, then we'll have to get help for you." Jackie was now seated on the bed, looking very alert and extremely upset.

Rose looked through the door and started slowly walking away.

"Don't do this, sweetheart!" Jackie yelled. " Do you have any idea how much it's worrying me?"

 _John Smith, help me!_

 _Just do as I say!_

"So it is John Smith! I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I think I'm going to have to make a call today."

Right as she said this, Rose closed the bedroom door.

"Rose!" Jackie said desperately. "Get back here right now! I can't stand to see what's happening to you, and to see you doing this…"

 _John Smith. I'm afraid! What should I do?_ Rose was now leaning towards the door in fear. She couldn't stand to see her mummy like this, and the fact that John Smith didn't seem to care bothered her even more.

 _If your mother takes you to some kind of special doctor, and they try giving you anything, it won't harm you in any way because I'll be able to act as… as some kind of wall or fence that keeps bad things away from your mind, so you don't have to worry about strange side effects from any of those so-called psychiatric treatments._

 _So are you just going to let her take me to a doctor?_ Now Rose was very scared.

 _I can't control anything your mother does, but I can control your mind to keep any doctor from trying to do something that could hurt a lot._

 _Are you sure?_

 _Yes. So don't be scared, Rose. I'll still be here with you._

After that, Rose couldn't hear anything except her mummy's sobs.


	13. Chapter 13

**Here is a revised version of Chapter 13. I wasn't happy with the way I ended the original chapter, so I decided to make a couple of changes. I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Part 2: Northern Horizons**

Meanwhile, as John Smith had been guiding Rose away from her hysterical mother, the man and two girls whom Jackie had met on the day of the fire were staying ten miles away at the Northern Horizons Hotel.

Once a luxurious destination for wealthy tourists from around the world in the turn of the century, financial struggles after the Second World War significantly brought down the status of Northern Horizons. It was only due to a slight boost in visitors in the early eighties (mainly middle class American tourists who wanted to be around London for the royal wedding of 1981) that it managed to become slightly successful again, and by the nineties, it was being marketed in the US and Canada as a good hotel for families who were traveling on a budget.

So that night, in one of the large rooms reserved for anyone who brought children along, eight-year-old Christine Green and six-year-old Clara Oswald sat in a large velvet-colored bed, without much to do except talk to each other.

"Do you like our trip so far, Clara?" Christine asked, wrapping herself in a Bugs Bunny blanket due to the chill in the room. She had dark, shoulder-length hair, tan skin resulting from long hours outdoors at her home in Florida, a curvy body, and wore a yellow shirt and black slacks.

"It doesn't feel like a trip to me. I've always lived around here, and we spend most of our time in the hotel anyway," Clara responded. She had long brown hair and was wearing a sweater with the design of a penguin and snowflakes. Unlike Christine, she was thin and much more fair-skinned. Sunny Florida was a place she'd only imagined being in someday.

As a matter of fact, most of their days were spend going through several pages of schoolwork, watching a bunch of boring programs on television (Christine was disappointed to see that the only channels the hotel offered showed mainly the news and cricket games), or wandering around the hotel lobby. They were supposed to be looked after by Ms. Willington, a strange woman who worked as a cashier at the café downstairs, but she would leave them alone quite often, usually to help other guests out in the hotel, but sometimes to go drink at the bar as well. Not much of a vacation for either of them.

"If you want to go on a real trip, you should come with us to Florida sometime," Christine said. "When you see Disney World and all the beaches, you'll never want to go back to London again."

"Do you really think I could?" Clara asked with a look of wonder. She always loved hearing Christine's stories about Florida, or any stories of places outside of England, for that matter. At such a young age, she already wished to see the whole world, but so far, she could never get past adventure and global books featuring pictures of top destinations and foreign animals, or movies featuring sailors and pirates on deserted islands. Some things just seemed too fun to ever happen outside of stories, was what Clara often liked saying.

"I think you will. As a matter of fact, I think you're already seeing much of the world."

"What do you mean?"

This was something Christine wasn't able to explain. During those moments when she could look through Clara's mind, she had visions of things which Clara could never recount. Among them included Clara in an old-fashioned dress, running around a shabby alley in a street which looked like what she saw in those masterpiece specials they were always showing on PBS back home. In another, she was wearing futuristic clothing and playing with toy boats and submarines in a large indoor fountain while listening to classical music.

In many others, however, she saw someone much older, always running from one dangerous mission to another. Sometimes she was running from some fat robots which looked as if they came from a science fiction movie, or guiding a group which was in need of protection from a dark force they had no idea how to get away from. In these visions, even though she would be taking charge, she always looked as if she was waiting for someone to come for her, as if she secretly felt too afraid to handle these situations on her own. Whatever the meaning behind these visions was, Christine could never tell.

"Well, I mean since you're always learning about different places and having your little adventures with someone, you're at a good start."

Clara sighed. "It's not as fun as actually traveling though."

"I know, but you just have to wait for the right moment to get going."

Soon, there was a soft knock at the door. "Girls, I'm back," a familiar voice called out.

"Coming up, Dr. Sullivan," Christine called back, and she threw her blanket on the floor and walked up to answer the door.

And in walked Dr. Harry Sullivan, now around forty-seven years old, and except for some lines around the face, he didn't look that much different from the way he was in the photo hanging in the hallway of Sarah Jane Smith's house. He smiled when he saw Christine and Clara again after spending six hours away, and the girls looked just as happy to see him.

"How was your day, girls?" he asked.

"Okay," Clara responded.

"Boring," Christine grumbled. "Ms. Willington yelled at us when we started walking around the halls, and as soon as we got back inside again, she left us alone. We had to stay here and do all the other five pages in our reading workbooks," However, she continued smiling even as she was whining.

"Well, now you don't have to worry about doing extra work tomorrow, and we can go look around some of those shops down the block," Harry replied, attempting to get her to stop pretending to sound so upset.

"And what will we do? Enjoy our last days in London looking for dolls for Clara and ugly sweaters for me? You're no fun, Doc!" Christine complained, refusing to quit.

"All right," Harry said, pretending to sound serious. "I guess it looks like another day of cold chips for all three meals and a long maths review. To top it all off, we can invite in Ms. Willington for another lecture on proper conduct." If that didn't get Christine to drop her spoiled little child act, nothing would.

"Okay, okay! You win again, Dr. Sullivan. Perhaps shopping will be nice after all; at least we'll know Clara will be having fun during her last days with us." And with that, Christine turned to the girl and asked, "Is that okay with you, Clara?"

"Sure. Mum and Dad almost never buy me any presents back home," Clara answered, settling the question for the moment. Then she said, "So, what will we be having for tea tonight?"

Harry laughed. "Of course. I almost forgot. Here it is," and he set a white paper bag with the Northern Horizons logo on the small table next to the window. There were two hamburgers, a large package of warm chips, a chocolate cake, and two red cups with tea.

The three of them sat at the table for this late dinner. Before, the girls would often eat in the bed or the floor. However, two nights before, Clara had woken up screaming because there been a spider crawling up her chest, and upon turning on the lights to check what happened, Harry had found all sorts of bugs on the carpet, all them gathered around around the crumbs they'd left behind. Housekeeping wasn't the best at Northern Horizons, so much so that there were signs posted everywhere reminding visitors to clean up after themselves, and it wasn't until then that they'd understood the reason for this.

But as the girls ate, Harry just sat there and looked quietly through the window, refusing to have anything except for the tea.

"Why aren't you eating anything, Dr. Sullivan?" Clara finally asked.

"I ate something before coming back, so I'm not hungry now," was all he said.

Christine sighed anxiously. There were times when they ate at fast food restaurants or had big meals at home in which Harry would start looking sick after eating for only a couple minutes. He would then excuse himself and spend a long time in the bathroom, always saying he'd gotten an upset stomach. Other times, he would spend hours without eating at all and yet still looked okay, sometimes better than when he'd just eaten something. Despite his insistence that he understood his condition and could control it, it still worried her.

And as with Clara, she sometimes saw vivid images from his mind as well. In them, he was also on a lot of dangerous missions, facing similar foes as Clara did (including many of the weird robots). But unlike Clara's visions, Harry wasn't usually the one taking charge during these situations. Instead, this was the job of a funny-looking man with an old brown coat and a long scarf. He was the one who usually came up with plans for getting out of danger, often by tricking his enemies, the use of devices, and even giving powerful speeches. Harry acted more as an assistant, helping him carry out his plans, offering him advise (especially when he thought the man was being too reckless), and making sure things didn't get too much out of control.

Along with Harry, there was this young woman who also acted mainly as a helping hand, but who seemed as if she understood what went on a lot more than either of the others. It appeared that she seemed to sense danger before anything started happening at all, and she was always trying to advise the strange man and Harry on what was the best course of action. Half of the time, it was because of her advice that they were able to save themselves, as well as the lives of many other people and creatures...

Harry then looked at her and said, "Christine, I'm fine. You don't have to get so worried about me all the time. Try focusing on your own thoughts for once."

Yes, he knew about the mind reading. It was the reason why she'd started seeing him in the first place. Her mother, a single parent who worked long hours as a secretary, had been so worried about her after an incident that occurred earlier that year in school, in which a boy had fallen into a coma after Christine had started detecting his thoughts. Her concern made her willing to turn to anyone for help. One of the first people she came across was Harry Sullivan, whom she discovered to be a British doctor who once worked for the government and now specialized in "unusual cases", sometimes free of charge, as he was now paid for by several universities for performing research on extra sensory perception. He had no other patients that she was aware of, and he spend the majority of his working time writing long reports on a computer. Also, when asked how he first got started on this kind of work, he refused to say a word.

Under normal circumstances, Patti Green would have been suspicious about this, but for now, she hadn't cared. What mattered to her was that Christine was now much better, taking medication which helped control those strange powers of hers. She was also being homeschooled now, since Dr. Sullivan had agreed to provide her with teach her at home after seeing what a hard time she was having in school after the incident (especially after several older students had attempted to push her down the stairs, luckily resulting in only a sprained ankle). The fact that Christine was no longer spending much time with other children her own age was the only thing that really bothered Patti about this arrangement. However, because Christine was fine with it, looking a lot happier and learning much more with this strange doctor than she had in all her previous years of regular schooling, she tried not to worry about it too much.

When Christine looked up, she noticed Clara was no longer by her side.

"Doc, where's Clara?" she asked anxiously.

Upon saying that, Harry finally broke free from his own thoughts and looked around the room. "I don't see her anywhere, Christine."

"Do you think it's happening again?"

"Perhaps," he responded, trying to sound calm, but in reality, he was feeling just as worried as Christine was. "At least we know where she'll be if..."

"Here she is again, Doc," Christine called out quietly, kneeling at the bottom of the bed. "She's doing something in there, but she doesn't seem to notice that I'm right next to her."

With that, Harry got down on the blue carpet and gestured to Christine, demanding, "Step aside, Christine. We have to let her have as much space for herself as possible."

Christine nodded and did as she was told.

And even though they tried staying as far away from her as possible, the two of them could still see the state Clara was in. Her eyes were wide open, but within just a few seconds, they turned bright red, making her look as she was possessed. There was a piece of paper and box of crayons next to her, and despite the darkness, she was drawing a perfectly clear picture.

In it, there was the same blonde girl in pink as before, but she was now leaning in front of a door, as if she was trying to prevent someone from coming out of it. On top of her head, there was what at first sight appeared to be a scribbled red fire, but upon taking a closer look it, you could make out the shape of a dog, or as Clara called it when she spoke during these episodes, the Bad Wolf.

And pretty soon, she was saying it again, using an awfully raspy voice which sounded as if she had a sore throat: "Bad wolf, Bad Wolf..."

"Are you sure we can't do anything, Doc?" Christine asked, starting to feel a little faint.

"Bad wolf," Clara went on, and the red crayon now made a sound like nails on a chalkboard as she continued scribbling.

Harry, who had his hand wrapped around Christine's shoulder to keep her from getting too scared, said very gently, "We don't understand why Clara gets like this, and you saw how she nearly hit us when I tried touching her. The best thing we can do is just leave her alone until it's over, okay? Are you going to trust me on this?"

"I think so," was all Christine could say.

At least they now knew a little about the source of the Bad Wolf. Christine had seen a clear vision of the blonde girl from Clara's drawings when she searched through the mind of that woman who was almost run over, and the image had remained there for a long time. The woman worried an awful lot about her daughter and wanted answers. These worries had reminded Christine a lot about how her own mother used to think before she started seeing Dr. Sullivan, as well as what she'd detected during the one time she saw Clara's parents (they'd desperately agreed to an extended checkup, which was why Clara had joined them throughout most of their trip to London). Could it be that the Bad Wolf girl was supposed to be just like her? Harry seemed to agree with this, but because Clara had no memory of these episodes once she regained consciousness, there was no way they could know for sure.

And then, Clara dropped the red crayon, which rolled until it reached the spot where Harry and Christine were kneeling. Her eyes lost that horrific look from before, and she was looking at the two of them in confusion.

"What just happened? How did I get here?" she asked anxiously. Her forehead was soaked with sweat, and she was trembling with fear.

"You dozed off for a moment and started sleepwalking," Harry said, giving Christine that look he always gave her when he wanted her to keep quiet about something. She only nodded in response. She would have preferred for him to tell her the truth, but as he'd already told her several times, because they didn't understand what was happening to her (the possibility of Clara having ESP was dismissed after she failed to pass the exams required to determine if someone was psychic), it was best to give her explanations which didn't cause too much confusion or distress. In some cases, especially with very young children, giving ambiguous explanations worsened their conditions instead of making them better. "How are you feeling right now, Clara?" he asked her after a while.

"I feel a little dizzy, but I think I'll be okay, " she responded in a weak voice. The trembling stopped, and a lot less scared. Harry started helping her get out of the bed, and within a minute, she was seated beside them once again, all of them feeling much better than they had been a while ago.

"Do you want to go to bed right now, or would you like to do something with Christine and me?" Harry asked her.

"I think I'd like to go to sleep," Clara answered, letting out a small yawn.

"Okay. That settles it." And then, Harry picked her up and carried her to her bed. He tucked her in with the large velvet sheets, not even asking her to change into her pajamas. After this, he stroked her hair and said, "Good night, Clara. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs come back."

"Good night, Clara. Get ready for ugly sweaters and a 1999 plane ticket to Florida tomorrow," Christine called out jokingly.

Clara gave a small chuckle, and within a couple of seconds, she was fast asleep.

Harry then turned to Christine. "So, what would like to do now? Would you like to read something, or play a game downstairs? We've got two hours before we both have to get bed."

"Well, Doc, I think I'd like to..."

All of a sudden, the phone started ringing.

"Answer it, Christine. It's probably your mum."

Since seeing the future wasn't among Christine's powers, she was not prepared to hear the anxious voice of that same woman she had been thinking about a while ago upon answering.

"Are you Christine, the girl I met the other day?" was the first thing she asked upon hearing her voice, and Christine was surprised that she remembered her.

"Would you like to speak to Dr. Sullivan?" she asked in response.

There was a pause, and then the woman said, "Yes. Tell him that there's something strange going on with my daughter Rose, and that if he really works with unusual cases, then I think he might be able to help her."


	14. Chapter 14

**If the last chapter didn't get you wondering about what kind of place Northern Horizons is supposed to be, then you'll certainly be left with many questions by the end of this one.**

That morning, instead of heading off for school or continuing on with the hopeless job search, Jackie and Rose Tyler went to the Northern Horizons Hotel.

At first sight, it seemed like a luxurious vacation destination. The building stood separately from the many other places surrounding the busy urban area, looking about three stories tall, and painted a luminous white. Surrounding the plaque with the name of the hotel and year it was found (being 1901), there were several statues adorning the entrance, including one of an elegant woman from ancient times and three lions, one of which seemed to be missing an eye.

However, this good impression died away once they stepped through the door. From the inside, it looked more like one of those run- down motels in which Jackie's family used to stay during those few holidays spend away in the countryside than the Goring or Covent Garden. The walls were painted in a light brown color that barely did anything to conceal the cracks and stains which could be seen on every corner. There was even a small hole under one of walls which made up the entrance area, and what looked like a spider web around the ceiling. Rose started to shiver from the unattractive sight, and Jackie did her best to avoid looking for too long.

The other contents of the room weren't any more pleasing to the eye. The furniture around the front desk looked as if it had been bought several decades ago, with a gray sofa and armchair which were tearing apart, a wooden coffee table with a pot of small flowers whose petals were hanging down, looking very dry and neglected, and several china dolls set up around the tables which were missing heads or arms.

Jackie walked up to the young woman at the front desk. She had her blonde hair in a ponytail and was wearing black trousers and a red shirt with "Northern Horizons" stitched around the breast area. "May I help you?" she asked in a tired voice.

"Yes. We're here to visit some guests staying in Room 236," Jackie explained, giving her the number the man had given her over the phone, which she luckily remembered to write down despite the state she was in last night.

The woman nodded. "All right. Go head on up if you want to, or you can get assistance from one of the staff members."

"But where is everybody? This place seems deserted."

The woman softly chuckled. "Oh don't worry, there are a couple of workers and guests hidden up somewhere. You'll certainly find someone over in the shop or security area, which are both to your left."

"Thank you," Jackie said. She then got a hold of Rose's hand, and as they were walking away, Rose heard the woman thinking, _It's certainly nice to see the hotel filling up again. If they only knew how creepy it gets when no one's around._

To the left of the staircase, things seemed in better condition. There appeared to be several large and well-equipped rooms, including both a rec room with table tennis, arcade games, and a television, a playroom with more toys than any child could keep in their bedrooms, as well as a ballroom with a sign at the door indicating that entrance was only allowed if you were an employee or had a reservation. The store the woman had talked about sold a variety of candies, magazines, and fast food, and the girl working there gave them a friendly smile as they walked by.

However, the person who ended up escorting them was a middle-aged woman who went around with a look of indifference and weariness. She had wild brown hair set up in a sloppy ponytail, a wrinkled work uniform, old brown shoes, and very pale and dry skin. Upon seeing Jackie and Rose, she gave them a sly smile and said, "I see you both got here quite a bit early. Are you the mother and daughter headed to Room 236?"

"Why yes," Jackie responded, sounding surprised. "How did you know?"

"Let's just say I've gotten to have more interactions with the guests staying there than is normal for someone who's just a shopgirl. But then again, I've been working here since 1976, longer than anyone else in this hotel, and that includes its current owner."

"Interesting. I'm Jackie Tyler, and this is my daughter Rose."

The woman just looked at them for a while before finally reaching out to shake Jackie's hand (Rose stepped aside when she tried doing the same to her). "The name's Allison Willington, and I'll take on the job of escort for now, since my shift doesn't start until eleven today," and she turned to look at the other shopgirl, who just shrugged indifferently. "Go ahead, Allison. I know how good you are at keeping visitors entertained," she said.

"Thank you," Jackie said, and it wasn't until then, as she'd gotten a lot closer to Allison, that she noticed the familiar stench of liquor coming from her breath as she spoke. She may not have been drinking heavily, but from the way she was staring at them, as well as how she tended to ramble on at certain points, it was obvious that it was having some effect on her. Rose noticed this too, and she already started dreading what they were in for. If this woman was anything like how her mother was when she got drunk, they were heading for a lot of trouble.

Allison, however, was oblivious as to how they were feeling about her. "Come on now. I don't want to stand around here for too long. We've all got things to do."

 _Of course she can't stand around for a long time,_ Jackie thought. _When you're drunk, it's impossible to stay still for even a minute_. However, she just said, "Sure. Let's go ahead," and the three of them started walking down the long hallway.

"So, how are you loving the palace which is Northern Horizons?" Allison asked sarcastically.

"Strangely enough, this side of the hotel seems a lot more appealing than the entrance. I mean, if you want to get guests to stay over, shouldn't they feel as if they're walking into some sort of paradise instead of a deserted old building from the moment they step inside?"

Allison laughed. "So far, you've been a lot more honest about the shape this hotel's in than anyone else I've spoken to. I've been trying to convince Truman, the owner of the hotel, to fix up the entrance for over a decade, but he keeps insisting that it's fine, that no one takes notice of small flaws like cracked walls and armless china dolls. He's especially fond of those dolls, since he claims they were supposedly a gift from some Eastern European king back in the turn of the century."

"Are you serious?" Jackie asked in surprise. If those dolls were the gifts of royals, why on Earth would they be in such bad shape?

"Supposedly, but Truman can be a bloody good liar sometimes. He boasts about this place as if it were the Buckingham Palace, especially when he's interacting with tourists. If you saw how many New Yorkers go bonkers to the point of taking Polaroid pictures of either those creepy dolls or this one statue of a Lion with a missing eye that Truman claims was a gift from the Ottoman Empire, you'd be in for one good laugh."

"That doesn't seem funny to me," Rose said, speaking up for the first time. "If I owned the hotel, I would just throw them away or try fixing them. It all just looks scary."

Allison chuckled. "Well sweetie, there is something about this place which gives people the chills. But as bad as it may seem now, it was a whole lot worse when I started working here. Back then, almost everything looked as if it were decaying, especially the walls. A lot of the rooms here, including the rec and play rooms, didn't exist, and the ballroom hadn't been used since the forties…"

Jackie then stopped by a large bulletin board filled with advertisements, announcing things such as the latest theatrical productions, upcoming concerts, top tourists attractions, and discounts at nearby restaurants. Her attention was caught towards a sign for jobs at the Northern Horizons, and listed right at the top was this:

Now Hiring

Winter Caretaker: December through March

Must watch over the hotel and take on various tasks

Temporary residence at Northern Horizons is required

See Michael Truman for details

"What are you looking at?" Allison asked.

"I was wondering about the jobs here, particularly that of the winter caretaker. What are they in charge of?"

"Well, because Northern Horizons still runs on a pretty tight budget, Truman closes the hotel from January through March. During that whole time, a caretaker is in charge of keeping the place in good shape until it opens again. They're basically both security guards and housekeepers who are on the job for twenty-four hours. They usually start in December in order to get to know the place and help assist employees when necessary. Mind if I ask why you're interested?"

"I've been out of work for several weeks now," Jackie reluctantly explained. "I used to work as an aide at a nursery school, but I had to leave for reasons I'd rather not talk about right now."

Allison nodded. "Well, you certainly look like you could make a good caretaker. You seem very observant and intelligent, and seeing how you were able to be straightforward about the shape the hotel's in, I'm sure you'd be able to talk some sense into Truman when he needs it."

"I'll have to think about it," Jackie said, and the three of them started heading up the stairs, where they came across a hallway with cream- colored walls, an elegant scarlet carpet, and a large portrait of a bridge built around a pond and a field filled with dandelions and red roses was on display in the middle of the room.

"It sure looks better around here," Rose said.

"That's right, sweetheart. Truman is especially proud of that painting, which was done by a young woman from London in the year this hotel was first opened."

"Well, before we get to the room," Jackie said, " I wanted to know if you could tell me what you know about this doctor we'll be seeing."

That sly grin was back on Allison's face. "Unfortunately, my dear, I may not be much help to you if you want to know what kind of work that old chap specializes in. When I first met up with him, I thought he was probably a child psychologist, on account of how he had two little girls who weren't his own kids along with him. But then he admitted that he'd never really worked with young children before; the youngest patient he'd had before was fifteen years old. He claims he never turns down a patient, so when asked to work with those girls, he couldn't say no despite his own inexperience with children."

"But what's wrong with those girls?"

"I don't have a bloody clue. One of them claims she has a sleeping problem, and the other says she gets bad headaches that require some medication I've never heard of before. But from what I've seen so far, little Clara sleeps as soundly as a baby, and Christine never complains of anything other than her boredom with the hotel. Pretty healthy girls, if you ask me, and all I ever see Sullivan do is write long reports and deliver envelopes addressed to places like Berlin and Paris."

"Sullivan? Is that the doctor's name?" Jackie asked, trying to recall if he'd ever told her his name.

"Of course it is! Did he really not tell you?" Now Allison was starting to look shocked.

"He might have, but I don't know for sure," she responded. Perhaps he'd said it during their phone call last night, but she just couldn't recall it at all, or anything besides his constant reassurance that everything could be worked out and the name of the hotel he was staying in. Apparently, he didn't have access to his office on Fridays, which Jackie thought to be quite unusual, even if he was only staying in London for a while.

"Anyway, despite all his secrecy and rather unconventional work methods, Sullivan truly seems like a good man. The girls adore him, since he's always trying to make them happy; buying them sweets, playing ping pong with them in the rec room, or just telling them all sorts of ridiculous stories. Also, in all the time he's been staying here, I've never once heard him raise his voice towards anyone. Not when I've made my occasional escapades, not when the little brats decide to act up, or even after Truman gave him that long, fully detailed tour of Northern Horizons. He's that calm, kind doctor every patient wishes they could have. What the old bastard does to be so good-tempered is something I'll never understand."

 _But is that really going to be of any help to Rose?_ Jackie wondered. Nice doctors always made your stay much easier, but that wasn't a guarantee that everything would go right. For all she knew, something alarming could be in the way today.

"However, I still get this strange feeling whenever I'm around him," Allison rambled on, no longer caring if they were listening. "Perhaps because the last time I saw a man come alone with two girls, things got quite ugly. This man was the caretaker back in 1980, having come all the way from Quebec, as a matter of fact. Complete opposite of Sullivan. If something upset him, he would always make it obvious. Got into about three fights with the owner at the time, and he didn't like me at all. Can't even begin to tell you how many times he called me a _putain._ But it was the way he treated those girls which was the most disturbing thing of all. When they were alone, they were always happy, having little exchanges in French and singing along to anything that was on the radio, but once their daddy came in, they always got these terrified expressions on their faces. I had my suspicions about him from the start, but nothing could have prepared me for…" and then, perhaps realizing how much she was revealing for the first time, she stopped.

"What happened?" Rose asked, having gotten too interested in Allison's tale of the former caretaker.

"Something which is too much for a little girl like you to hear," was all Allison would tell her.

"But I hear scary stuff all the time. You can tell me." No need to mention that she also _saw_ a lot of scary stuff.

"No. I'm done with that, and besides, I've been wasting a lot of your time with my endless talking."

"I've found the room," Jackie called out. "Come on, Rose. Let's see what we're in for."

"Good luck to you two," Allison said, but she refused to go back downstairs. As a matter of fact, she remained seated in a large armchair set up between the bathrooms long after Jackie and Rose had been let into the room. There was something making her feel more cautionary than usual; something stronger than the four glasses of wine she'd had three hours before, and if there was one thing Allison Willington was good at, it was being able to confront insanity no matter how unstable she was herself.

Jackie knocked on the door two times, and it was answered by little Christine, who gave her a friendly grin upon recognizing her. "Nice to be seeing you again, Mrs. Tyler. Probably a bit too early, but that's fine with us."

Jackie smiled. "It's lovely to see you too, Christine. Is Doctor, err, your doctor ready to meet with us?"

"Yeah. Dr. Sullivan got up quite early and even ordered breakfast for you. I think you're going to like visiting him, even if you don't like doctors."

As this girl was speaking, Rose noticed that the girl seemed to be looking at her very intensely. As much as she tried to appear more focused on speaking to Jackie, it was obvious that her attention was still aimed at her, and all while appearing to be in a state of deep thought.

And then, she heard this:

 _Hi there, Rose. If you can hear what I'm telling you, send me a message through your mind._

To which Rose, acting upon shock, could only respond with this:

 _Who are you, and what kind of doctor am I about to see?_

 **Thanks once again for your reviews, follows and favorites. With all the crazy stuff going on (or rather, what won't be going on) with DW this year, I know we'll all want a way to continue on enjoying new adventures, and I hope to be able to continue on with this story, and several more which I'm still trying to plan out, for this reason. If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see me write about later, feel free to let me know :)**


	15. Chapter 15

Because there's a lot going on this chapter, it will be my longest yet, going above 5,000 words. I hope you enjoy it while not getting too scared or confused, especially as we get into Rose's long awaited appointment.

For a while, the two girls only looked at each other in awe. For Rose, who had only met one other psychic person in her life, being able to have a connection of the mind with another girl felt reassuring once she'd gotten over her shock, since she now had the feeling that she was once again among someone who could understand what she was going through, perhaps even more than Sarah Jane did. However, the questions she had were now increasing, and because she couldn't get a response, her usual impatience was being triggered.

For Christine, who'd never known another psychic before, it was all amazing. She'd been right about her guesses regarding Jackie Tyler's daughter, and had gotten the chance to have another person hear her thoughts and be able to directly respond to her through her mind for the first time ever. Going on with their interaction was something she really wanted to do, but for some reason, it seemed difficult to continue. Although she could tell her who they were without much issue, how much was it possible to reveal to her at the moment? If she were to try to explain certain things to Rose, would she be able to understand? Could some of this scare her?

 _I'm not scared. I just want to know who you are._

 _All right, let's start with the introductions. I'm Christine Mariana Green. I live with my mom, Patricia Flores Green, in Longview, Florida. The doctor you're going to see is Harry Sullivan. He was born in England, just like you, but he's been working in many places around the world for eleven years now, trying to learn as much as he can about people like us. And that girl over there,_ she was now pointing towards Clara, who was seated in the bed in her favorite red dress, looking over a _National Geographic_ book containing pictures of animals from all over the world, _is Clara Oswald. She's another one of Dr. Sullivan's patients. We met her a week after we came here to London for Dr. Sullivan to turn in research papers for an organization. She'll have to go back home soon, but we really liked having her here with us._

 _And I'm Rose Tyler_ , Rose responded. _I'm here with my mum Jackie, and we live in a flat here in London_ , Rose managed to respond. Yes, it really was great being able to have this connection of the mind with another girl. Perhaps she really did have nothing to be afraid of.

As the girls went on with this conversation, Jackie was looking around the room. It was quite large, with one queen-sized bed, in which Clara was now seated, and a regular- sized one to the right. Everything seemed very comfortable and unusually tidy, with the beds already having been made, several books and supplies being neatly stacked at the top of a set of drawers and a large desk. As Christine had said, breakfast had already been brought in, with several plates of hot cakes, scrambled eggs, and toast, as well as a teapot and cups, set up around the large desk with supplies.

"Go ahead and have some breakfast, Mrs. Tyler," Christine said to her, having finished her connection of the mind with Rose. "You can have anything you want except for that bacon sandwich, because that's Dr. Sullivan's."

"Sure, dear," Jackie said, and she grabbed a plate with scrambled eggs and buttered toast, while Rose immediately grabbed the hot cakes. They were about to sit on the bed to eat until Clara shouted out, "You can't eat in here! If you do, you'll leave a big mess on the carpet, and then a lot of bugs will come in at night and try biting us as we sleep."

Jackie just laughed. "Hello to you too, Clara. Don't worry too much about us soiling up your neat little hotel room, since I eat in bed all the time and always leave the floor spotless."

"Actually, Clara's right," Christine acknowledged. "We used to eat so much around the beds and floor that Clara ended up finding a spider on her chest as she was waking up one night, and Dr. Sullivan found a ton of bugs on the floor. Now, we always eat around that big desk over there."

"Oh dear," Jackie said. "Come on, Rose. Let's move to the desk." When they were both seated there, she said, "And I was wondering why this room was so clean in the morning. Where is Dr. Sullivan, by the way?"

"He's still taking a shower," Christine answered. "But he's probably going to be coming out real soon. He always likes being well-prepared for everything we do, even if it's just here in the hotel room."

The three girls sat together, with Rose finishing all the pancakes within five minutes, and Christine helping herself to a bit too much bacon and toast. Only Clara was taking her time as she ate, but this was mainly because she couldn't stop talking about the kangaroos and koala bears which took eight pages of her book. From the way she spoke, you'd think she'd been to Australia a dozen times before instead of just having read too much on the country. Rose couldn't help but giggle as she spoke, mainly because she now remembered how John Smith once talked about having an Australian friend who was a "mouth on legs" and who would have been extremely annoyed if she'd heard her home country being referred to as the "land of kangaroos", which was what seemed to fascinate Clara the most about Australia.

Meanwhile, Jackie was looking at the items stacked around the desk as she ate. There was the white First Aid kit which doctors were always carrying around, and next to it, she noticed the bottle of blue liquid which Christine had placed in her bag. There was also a stack of papers with a post-it note at the top saying "From UNIT", as well as several books. Some were simple children's books like _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Where the Sidewalk Ends_ , others were for adults, including _The Lottery and Other Stories_ (one of her personal favorites), _The Handmaid's Tale,_ and _The Bonfire of the Vanities._ But the title that most caught her attention was a large text the size of an encyclopedia, titled _Beyond a Sixth Sense: Reports on Extra Sensory Perception Research._

 _Extra Sensory Perception?_ She wondered. _That's odd. Why would a reasonable doctor be interested in reading something like that?_

"Hello there," she heard someone calling over her shoulder, and with a start, Jackie noticed Harry Sullivan standing right next to her, giving her that same friendly, courteous expression from their first meeting, despite seeming fully aware of what she was doing.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry! I know I have no business looking over your things, but I just get so curious sometimes…"

"Don't worry," he interrupted. "There's no need to make a fuss over small things like this. You're here on time with your daughter, ready before I was, and that's all that matters."

 _But why wouldn't it matter to him? Here I was, looking over reports that seemed very important in addition to books no competent physician would probably want patients finding on their shelves, and he acts as if it's just a simple little mishap?_ But despite all her questions, she just smiled and said, "I suppose you're right. It's good to see you again, Dr. Sullivan."

Dr. Sullivan shook her hand and said, "Great to see you again too, Mrs. Tyler." Then, turning to Rose, he gave her a friendly smile and said, "And how are you, little girl? Would you mind telling me your name?"

"Rose Tyler," Rose answered simply, shaking his hand. And as she took a good look at him, with his good-natured smile, his recently washed brown hair, and the long-sleeved white shirt and black trousers he was wearing, she started thinking that he looked familiar. She'd been learning the names of many people whom she'd never seen before in the past couple of months, but in this case, she felt that this was someone whose name she'd either forgotten or had never learned, but whose appearance she'd somehow encountered before, like in a vision or a photograph.

Dr. Sullivan, however, didn't seem to take notice of her thoughtful expression as she looked at him. Instead, he once again turned to Jackie and said, "So, did you two manage to get breakfast, or did Christine eat everything up already?"

Jackie smiled. "She was generous enough to tell us about it as soon as we got in, but I do have to say that Christine has as big an appetite as Rose, since they were both able to finish a whole plate of food in only a couple of minutes."

He laughed just before taking a small bite of the bacon sandwich they'd left for him. "Just as I thought. But many healthy children have such eating habits and are still okay. Luckily, Christine loves playing as much as she does eating, although it would do her some good to think about all those snacks she likes having every two hours."

Christine sighed. "Shouldn't we be talking about the reason for Rose's appointment, Doc? This is, unless they just came here for nutritional advice."

"We're getting there, Christine," Dr. Sullivan told her. He then looked at Jackie with a more composed expression and said, "For this appointment, I'm going to start by examining Rose alone, and afterwards, I'll tell you about the results. How does that sound?"

"Okay, but could you give me some idea of what you'll be doing?"

"I won't be performing any major medical examinations, if that's what you mean. From the symptoms you told me about last night, I'm going to give her tests that measure her state of mind. There will be some questions and activities that may feel like a game to her, just like those which are performed by some psychologists. I might do some minor physical examinations as well, like checking her heartbeat. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"I think that's enough for now," Jackie assured him. "Should I get going now?"

"Just sign this form, and then you can go. Take Christine and Clara along with you as well."

Even though she was a reader, like many people, Jackie couldn't be bothered to read through a whole document. She only took notice of phrases like "I give my consent" and "I will follow through the advice of the physician upon the end of the appointment", while failing to notice that the top of the form included the name of the University of Florida research center, along with some of the actions which she was consenting to (among them included having the information of the patient included among the research center's records). In only a couple of seconds, the form was signed without any further questions.

"Here it is," Jackie said. "May I go now?"

"Go ahead," Dr. Sullivan responded. Then, looking at Christine and Clara, he said, "Run along, girls. Go show Mrs. Tyler all those games in the rec room which you two seem so good at while I'm never able to win."

"We sure will, Doc," Christine said, and she got a hold of Clara's hand.

"But Dr. Sullivan, are we still going shopping when this is over?" Clara asked.

"Like I already told you, we'll see about it, depending on how long the appointment takes."

"Can we invite Rose and Mrs. Tyler to come with us if we do?"

He smiled. "Maybe we will. How does that sound, Mrs. Tyler?"

"Lovely," Jackie responded. "We always like having company, especially during hard times like these. Now let's get going, love. We don't want to waste any more of their time."

And with that, the three of them left, leaving Rose alone with Harry Sullivan.

Before they got started, Harry set up a pile of three pillows on the floor, arranging them to form a comfortable seat for Rose. He then took one of the chairs from the desk and set it up next to the pillows, so that the two of them would be seated together just as a psychiatrist and patient would. This was how Harry's first sessions with Christine had been arranged, since he figured that making their meetings feel more the way some child therapies were would make her more comfortable with opening up to him than it would be if they were to meet up in the infirmaries and laboratories where he'd previously met up with adult psychic patients, having gone so far as to reject the University of Florida's offering of their health center for his appointments.

"Okay Rose," Harry started when they were both seated. "I'm going to start by asking you some simple questions."

"All right," Rose responded.

"First of all, have you been generally healthy lately?"

"I think so. I haven't been getting colds, fever, or the flu, if that's what you mean."

"Exactly. But you haven't been getting any serious headaches, tummy aches, or any other pain?"

"No." There were the occasional headaches she got after moving objects around, but they were usually gone very quickly, so she assumed that it didn't count as the serious pain which Dr. Sullivan seemed to be referring to. And then, of course, there were the blackouts, but since they were even less common than the headaches, she figured she could tell him about them when they started talking about her powers.

"Good," he responded, and stopped to scrawl something down on a sheet of paper. Then he looked up at her again and said, "Now, do you mind telling me about your feelings? Like if you've been either very happy or sad for some reason, or if you ever get nervous while you're in school."

At this, Rose looked confused. "I thought doctors only wanted to know whether you're feeling sick or not. Why should it matter if I'm feeling happy or sad?" she asked, sounding much like a child questioning why they had to clean their rooms or learn some difficult concept.

Seeming unbothered by Rose's tone, Harry responded patiently, "Because believe it or not, your feelings can influence your health in many ways. Some adults with a serious sickness find themselves feeling at least a little better if they have something they can feel happy about, like having their family by their side. There are some doctors that focus mainly on examining feelings and thoughts, especially when they seem to be hurting patients in some way. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so," Rose answered.

"Okay, so would you like to tell how you've been feeling lately?"

"Well, I'm a little unhappy because my mummy lost her job a few weeks ago. She doesn't seem interested in doing much because of it, and even though she says she's okay, I think she actually seems really sad."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Are things any better in school?"

"Not always. I have a friend there who cares a lot about me, but everyone else stays away from me. When school started, many kids would make fun of me, but now they seem to be scared of me."

"Why did they make fun of you?" Harry asked with genuine concern.

Rose realized that now would be the moment when she'd have to come forward with what Dr. Sullivan was waiting for her to admit all along. So far, he was doing his best to make her feel comfortable while not forcing her to reveal too much at once. Ms. Willington had been right about him being a good person, but was he really a good doctor? When she finally opened up about her ESP, was he really going to be able to help her? Would he find a good way to tell her mother about all this without scaring her?

"Rose?" she heard him ask somewhat anxiously, interrupting her from her thoughts. So she sighed and then started:

"On my first day of school, some boys heard me talking to myself. They thought I was doing it because I was crazy, so they came up to me and started calling me names in front of everyone. After that, they started chasing me, and as they did, some of them fell down for what looked like no reason. My friend Mickey stopped some of them, but everyone who saw us now thought I was a freak. So after that, some of my schoolmates started making fun of me all the time, calling me a loony and doing all sorts of mean things to upset me."

"Your mum told me that you have an imaginary friend that only seems to show up when you're scared or unhappy. Were you talking with this friend on the first day of school?"

 _He's not imaginary,_ Rose wanted to say, but she stopped herself before she could make this sudden confession. "Yes, that's what I was doing."

"Is that the reason why you think the kids at school started making fun of you?"

"Yes. I know for sure that it's the reason why."

Harry nodded and wrote more information down. Then, sounding more serious than he had before, he asked, "Now Rose, could you explain how real this friend seems to you?"

Rose stared at the floor, suddenly feeling more nervous than she'd been before. More than anything else, she wanted to detect Dr. Sullivan's thoughts and see how much he already knew, if perhaps Christine had been able to tell him about any visions she'd had of her. But she couldn't detect anything at all, and perhaps this was the time when she found her incapacity to read someone's mind the most frustrating of all, even more so than when she'd tried to figure out the truth about what happened to her mother the night after school started.

But she knew that sooner or later, she would have to speak up, and so she began with this:

"I can feel him talking to me at certain moments."

"And when he does, does he seem friendly or threatening?"

"It depends. Sometimes he's really nice to me, and just talks as if he were any other friend. And other times, when he's trying to warn me about something, he sounds more angry and scary."

"What does he warn you about?"

"He warns me when he knows something bad is going to happen to me. Like on the first day of school, he tried to get me to convince my mummy to walk me up to the school because he knew that some kids were about to start bullying me. Because she made me go up by myself, everything went badly for me, just like John Smith said."

Rose then noticed that Harry was the one who was now nervous. For a while, he just looked away with a startled expression. Then, he shook his head, trying to clear up the confusion going through his mind. And, for the first time, Rose started detecting his thoughts: _John Smith? No, I probably didn't hear her correctly. There's no way she could be referring to_ the _John Smith, could she? After all, it is a common alias. She could have heard it anywhere._

Then he asked, "Rose, did you say your imaginary friend's name is John Smith?"

"Yes," Rose replied honestly. "Yes, it is."

He then grew pale, and Rose started to worry that she might cause him to get so nervous that he could pass out due to panic. "Where…" he stuttered, "Where have you heard that name before?"

And then, Rose started to remember something she had almost forgotten from her first visit with Sarah Jane Smith. She remembered the photo in the hallway that had been next to the one with Sarah and her sisters, in which Sarah was alongside a young man, with the two of them dressed comfortably and looking very happy.

 _That's me and an old friend of mine,_ Sarah Jane had explained in a rather sad tone. _"His name was Harry Sullivan."_

And then, when she had explained the danger behind her powers when she had traveled with John Smith, she had brought him up again, this time saying that he had been a doctor send by some organization in order to make sure she was safe.

So yes, that was why this man seemed so familiar to her. At one point, he had been one of John Smith's traveling friends, going alongside Sarah Jane. It must have been at that point in which he learned about extra sensory perception, the point in which he started working on the important research Christine and Allison had brought up, and going on to become the expert which Christine said he was.

"I think you know who he is," Rose said upon finally speaking up.

"And who would that be?" Harry asked, trying to sound calm, but actually thinking, _So it probably isn't just the voice of any old person's thoughts that she's been hearing. Perhaps she really has been hearing the Doctor…_

"Yes," Rose said out loud. "I have been hearing the Doctor all along. He just likes calling himself John Smith when he's speaking to me."

When she said this, Harry was silent for a long time, trying to take in everything Rose had been saying. After thinking it all out, he looked at the little girl with astonishment. "Rose, are you trying to say that…"

"That I know an alien from a planet called Gallifrey who has traveled through time and space with many people from Earth? Yes, I do."

"And do you know when I first…"

"You met him when you were called up to look after him after he had regenerated. When he started getting better, you wanted to take him into the sick room, but he didn't want to. He said that you may have been a doctor but that he was _the_ doctor. After that, he started jumping rope with you, singing a funny song, and then he used that rope to tie you up and put you in a closet like an old pair of boots."

Upon hearing this, Harry couldn't help but laugh, as he often did when recalling that bizarre first meeting with the Doctor, but also because he couldn't believe what was going on. Not only had Rose Tyler met the Doctor, but she was also twice as powerful as he'd thought she be. Was there really a point in saying anything to her? She seemed to know what he was about to say before he even opened his mouth. Even with Christine, it would often take her a while to fully grasp his thoughts before she could repeat them to him. But Rose seemed to be capable of taking it all in within seconds. For someone so young, this was truly astonishing.

"You've got it all right so far, Rose," he said cheerfully to the little girl. "Wow. I never could have predicted that something like this would happen. All I can say is that we really were destined to meet up together, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah. It really is cool," Rose replied with a smile. This really was exciting, being able to meet both another psychic girl _and_ another friend of John Smith's on the same day. Coming to this appointment turned out being a lot better than what she'd been expecting.

Then, just as she was thinking about this, she heard a loud _crack_.

One of the tea glasses had fallen unto the ground, with the glass breaking into dozens of small pieces and cold tea causing a heavy leak on the carpet.

"Oh no!" Rose exclaimed. "I'm…"

"Don't worry, Rose," Harry said, not understanding the reason behind her panic. "It's just a small leak and a broken dish. Accidents happen, and compared to some of the ones I've had, this is nothing." And with a piece of cloth and sweeper from one of the drawers, he started wiping the leak and picking up a couple pieces of glass at a time. When all the glass was picked up and thrown away, he said, "And that's it. Little things like that are easy to take care of."

"But won't the hotel owners get mad if something gets broken?"

"If you saw the state some of the items they love so much, you could say that they don't mind much at all."

Rose remembered the china dolls and nodded. It certainly was crazy how they seemed to like them so much as to still keep them on display.

"So, back to the Doctor. Do you know when he started calling himself John Smith?"

"When he regenerated for the second time, he started to work for some organization. I think it was called Union or…"

"You mean UNIT."

"Yeah, UNIT. He was going to be a scientific advisor there, and to do that he had to have a name. So he chose the name John Smith."

"Good job. And do you know what TARDIS…"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Rose answered without any hesitation.

"Right-o. Can you name any of the Doctor's…"

 _Companions,_ Rose heard him thinking. And now that she had been able to remember who Harry was, she had little trouble recalling the other names whom she heard from Sarah Jane, John Smith, or some of the visions she'd had of John Smith's adventures:

"Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Vicki Pallister, Dodo, Sara Kingdom, Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield, Zoe Heriot, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and of course, Sarah Jane Smith."

And once again, Rose was correct. UNIT had records of every companion the Doctor had ever had, and the list kept growing on those other occasions when he had checked it.

And then Rose said something he wasn't expecting at all:

"And I happen to know Sarah Jane Smith."

"Really? Are you sure?" he asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. She knows my friend Mickey, and when she came to pick him up on the first day of school, she managed to talk to me through her thoughts. We met up later at her house, where she found out about how powerful I am and how John Smith is now living inside my head. She told me a lot of the things I now know about him, and offered to help me out whenever I need it."

Well, who could have been a better person to help Rose Tyler than Sarah Jane Smith? Sometimes Harry found himself questioning whether she really wasn't a Time Lord (or rather, Time Lady) herself because of how powerful she had been. In half of the dangerous situations they were in, Sarah had been able to detect trouble ahead of time, often having to convince the Doctor to take action during what seemed like comfortable trips. Early on, Harry had sometimes liked teasing her about this, saying things like, "I'm about to step into the shower. Am I by any chance in danger of slipping and cracking my head open, old girl?" only to have her respond by saying, "No, but go on with this and I'll make sure not to warn you if you're about to be attacked by aliens or have another careless accident that nearly kills you." (Ironically, when Harry did suffer from a head injury around the end of his travels with them, Sarah had not been able to foretell it, and ended up regretting it).

But as time went on, he gained a lot more respect for her. If she predicted something would go wrong, she always wanted to do whatever it took to prevent a disaster, even if it meant putting her own life at risk. She not only managed to save their own lives, but also those of hundreds of people and creatures whom they encountered throughout their travels. Harry couldn't recall how many times he'd tried to talk her out of intervening in some dangerous situation only to have her say, "But if I don't stop it, Harry, who will? You can only provide medical and practical assistance, and as brilliant as the Doctor is, he does have his limits. He can't read minds or predict the future. If I were to just let things happen, I wouldn't be able to live with myself, so that's my role here: to foresee danger and do my best to help out." That usually was enough to settle matters and have him go along with whatever she had planned. Pretty soon, the two became more willing to work together and accept each other's ideas, going on to become good friends by the time he had to leave her and the Doctor behind.

But there was something else Rose had said which caught his attention, something about where the Doctor was now.

"Rose, what did you say about where John Smith is again?"

"John Smith has been living inside my head."

Harry now looked shocked once again. "What do you mean? How could he be able to do that, and for how long has he been doing it?"

"I've been seeing him since I started nursery school two years ago. He had to escape from Gallifrey and ended up becoming invisible when he arrived on Earth. A psychic French gypsy ended up saving him by allowing him to live inside her head, and when their time was up, she send him to live in the mind of child because then he'd be able to survive much longer. That's why I'm only able to see him as an imaginary friend. I've never seen him the way I see a regular person."

"But what happened with the TARDIS, his time machine?"

"The French gypsy ended up keeping it. John Smith says it was left behind in an abandoned building somewhere in Paris, where no one else would find it."

Harry sighed, putting a hand around his head. Here he had been, getting all excited about hearing this little girl say that she'd seen the Doctor and knew so much about him that he'd forgotten to fully examine the situation. If the Doctor was living inside of Rose's head, was it not the equivalent of a parasite living in a person's body? Wouldn't this result in a lot of complications for someone so young? Rose had said that she wasn't experiencing any serious pain, but perhaps she hadn't been explaining everything which was going on with her.

"Rose, when you said you never go through any serious pain, did you really mean it?"

Rose looked at him nervously. "I… I don't have it every day, but sometimes, these weird things happen to me. It's… I think…"

"Don't be scared. Just tell me what is that happens to you."

"Sometimes, I seem to make things move without even touching them. All I have to do is look at something, and then…"

But before Rose could go on, the lamp containing the only light in the room suddenly switched off. Seconds later, all the items in the table where they had all been seated earlier, from the books to the remaining dishes, fell to the ground at the same time with a loud crash.

As this went on, Rose remained frozen to the spot, incapable of even moving her hands, yet remaining fully conscious. Harry Sullivan, however, collapsed from the chair after it had split in half. As he was about to land on the ground, one of the chair's wooden bars hit him in the head, resulting in him becoming unconscious as soon as he came down.

But the scariest thing of all occurred when the red crayon which Clara had used for her bad wolf drawings started flowing out of its box, aiming for the walls, onto which it started scribbling around the very bottom. Over time, however, what looked like scribbling on a children's coloring book using a faded red crayon started looking more like an eerie painting, with the scribbling resembling a long river of blood which seemed to be flowing through the walls of the hotel room.

Then, around the middle of the wall, the crayon started writing something in capital letters. As it was with the bloody river, the writing started out looking faded and incomprehensible, but when it started turning into that same red liquid once again, what was written was very clear:

DAB FLOW

 **And there you have it! It may have seemed like the same telekinetic breakdown from chapter 7, but given the fact that Rose is now in a rather unusual hotel, there's a lot more haunting stuff going on now than there was the first time around, especially with that final message on the wall. Can it get any worse? We'll find out in the next chapter.**

 **I happen to be very busy lately due to the second semester of college, not to mention the fact that I become one of the marketing editors for my college's literary journal. A major achievement for an aspiring writer! However, this does mean that it will take more time for me to continue on with the story, but no worries, it will go on and I'll committee myself to writing at least three times a week in order to get to chapter 20 by June, if not further.**

 **I'm also trying to come up with ideas for another story in this series. The first story I have in mind is a prequel featuring Sarah Jane Smith, and the other will be one featuring another companion from the new series. So this is what I'd like to know: would you prefer reading a story featuring Victorian Clara or Amy Pond? For Victorian Clara, it will be a shorter story which will give some explanations behind the versions of her echos which we hear a little about in this story, while featuring some prominent characters from the new series. For Amy Pond, it will be a lot more like this story, with a lot of scary scenes and very powerful beings, and it will require me to read a certain book before starting. Let me know which story you'd prefer reading in your reviews or through a PM.**

 **Till next time, readers! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

Allison Willington always seemed to sense when something was wrong. Unlike Rose Tyler or Christine Green, she hadn't been able to read minds or have vivid visions of someone's past or future as a young girl. However, there had been moments when she would start getting inexplicably faint or feel her heart racing just when she was in the middle of running an errand for her mother or playing a game, which was then followed by some unexpected incident, usually a bad one, occurring minutes afterwards. Once, she'd had this feeling as she was walking to the bakery to buy some bread at the age of ten. Upon arriving, there had been a police car around because the bakery ended up experiencing a robbery, with the thief throwing a stone through the window and nearly injuring one of the baker's assistants.

At age twelve, after feeling as if she were going to pass out during an exercise routine in physical education, one of her classmates, Katy Owens, had an asthma attack and was taken to hospital. Five years later, this same girl ended up having a nervous breakdown after discovering she was pregnant, and was found hanging from her closet by her parents, who knew nothing about her pregnancy until the autopsy was done.

Seven years after Katy's death, there had been that bad feeling about Jean Blanche, the caretaker of Northern Horizons who arrived from Montreal just as the seventies were coming to an end along with his twin daughters. Despite his obvious questionable behavior from the start, she decided to ignore this, dismissing him as just another crazy foreigner.

Well, she had been extremely wrong about him, just as she'd been wrong in trying to believe that Harry Sullivan was just another doctor.

One of the few reasonable changes that occurred on account of the Blanche incident was the addition of peepholes to the doors, and when she'd seen Jackie Tyler and Sullivan's two young patients stepping away, Allison just had to see what was going on with him and Rose. After a whole month of trying to guess what he'd been doing with those seemingly healthy girls, she just couldn't help but to lean on the door and look through.

And it was unbelievable. One moment, Sullivan was just asking her questions about her health and feelings, and then, they were talking about an alien, with Rose often responding to his questions before he finished asking them. The old fool seemed to have forgotten his original intention of examining her and just went on with his questions about the alien, looking as excited as a young boy who thought he spotted a UFO through his window. It was so pathetic to Allison that she almost wanted to yell at him in the same manner as when Truman got carried away with his far-fetched stories during the hotel's many 'exhibitions'. Here was a girl who could read minds, and he wanted to go on asking her about time machines and how many people traveled with some alien he kept calling "The Doctor"?

Suddenly, just as he started to realize the girl's situation was probably more serious than he'd originally thought it was, was when there seemed to be an earthquake in the room. Everything had started falling and breaking, with Sullivan ending up injured and unconscious, and Rose just sitting there, completely immobile.

And then there was the crayon going through the walls, writing "DAB FLOW" in large letters. The whole time it happened, it seemed as if Rose was starring directly into the wall, unintentionally causing it all to occur.

It had been this that finally got Allison running downstairs. Something very unusual was going on, and she had a feeling that Rose Tyler was unknowingly behind all of it. And if this was anything like it had been in the past, she knew she had to take action now.

"Have you ever been to Australia, Mrs. Tyler?" Clara asked as Jackie and Christine were trying to focus on a Mario Brothers game in the rec room. Some loudspeakers were playing old rock music, with none other than "Hotel California" filling the room with a tranquil, yet somewhat errie, beat.

"No, unfortunately. As a matter of fact, the only place I've traveled outside of England is the Scottish countryside, and that was back when I was ten," Jackie responded, looking away as Christine was trying to aim the little fat plumber towards a mushroom which was in the middle of a bridge.

"How come you don't do much travelling? I know that's what I'm going to do as soon as I'm old enough," Clara said, expecting Jackie to respond with regret, the way her own parents did when they explained that there just wasn't enough money.

"There are some people that are just more comfortable with staying close to home," Jackie responded neutrally, expressing neither regret nor indifference. "As that old song playing right now says, sometimes you find yourself in what seems like a lovely place, but then you find out that you can never leave it."

"Does that mean you never want to go the United States either, even if you were to someday win a free trip to Florida or California?" Christine asked curiously, forgetting about the game for a while.

"I'll have to think about that, but I have no strong hopes. Whatever comes around, I could probably take it all at this point in my life."

It was then that they saw Allison Willington running in, looking so panicked that the three of them immediately turned their attention towards her.

"What's the matter?" Jackie asked.

Breathing heavily, Allison shouted out, "You need to go back to the hotel room right now! Everything in there is falling apart, and I think that somehow, your daughter is causing it."

Jackie did not hesitate. "I'm going in," she declared, and Christine and Clara followed along before either of the two women could stop them.

It was all worse than either of the three of them could have predicted.

The room which had been tidy and spotless only a couple of minutes ago was now in complete disarray. Not only were there clothes, blankets, books, and paper scattered all over the floor, but a lot of the furniture had been broken, being either torn to pieces or with at least one part missing. The table where they'd had breakfast was now just a wooden board on the ground, with its legs and chairs being spread out in different parts of the room, the drawers had fallen apart, resulting in clothes in every corner, and all that remained of the beds were the mattresses.

But even more noticeable than the mess was the state in which Rose and Harry had been left. Rose was seated with her legs folded around a pillow, with her eyes open yet fully motionless, as if they had frozen from the shock of whatever caused the mess in the room. Harry was on the ground, fully unconscious and with the bar from one of the chairs still beside his head, where they could see a dark mark around his forehead from where it had hit him.

Upon seeing this, Clara screamed and started crying, and Christine just stared at the two in shock. What could have happened? Was it possible that Rose had caused Harry to become paralyzed, the way she'd done with Jason Anderson after she found herself reading his mind in the playground? Or did Allison Willington have a point when she'd been rambling about how strange things were always happening in the hotel? If so, could it be possible that the hotel itself was what caused people to act so strange, as they'd seen with Clara's episodes, the over-the top- attitude of Mr. Truman on their first day, or Ms. Willington's own odd behavior?

But Jackie could not hide her own shock for even a minute. As soon as she saw how her daughter, she got down around a pile of dirty clothes and yelled, "Rose! What happened to her? Allison, did you see what went on here?" And she tried to put her arm around her daughter's face, when Christine yelled, "Don't touch her, Mrs. Tyler! You might hurt her even more if you do that!"

"How is that possible? If someone's unconscious, you have to touch them to get them moving again."

"The kid's right, Jackie," Allison finally spoke up. "From what I saw happening, trying to touch her might cause her to get worse." She remembered how a stranger who had placed a hand on her shoulder while she had that feeling of panic on her way to the bakery all those years ago caused her to start shaking violently and fall to the sidewalk.

"But what should we do?"

"I think I know," Christine said. Without moving from where she was, she started reaching out to Rose telepathically: _Rose, if you can hear me, answer back. We're all worried about you, and we want to know what happened in here?_

From her own experience with what Harry explained to her as a mental shutdown of sorts, she knew that when a psychic person was in the state Rose was in, they were often still aware of the external environment. However, they remained frozen because the part of the brain which caused movement became overwhelmed from all the internal psychic energy going on inside the brain, causing the person to remain still in order to calm the body down.

She didn't have to wait long for Rose's response. Within a few seconds, she heard her small, frightened voice:

 _Christine! I'm sorry about what I did! I'm sorry that I ruined your hotel room and ended up hurting Dr. Sullivan, but it all just happened for some reason. I…_

 _Don't be upset, Rose. I know you didn't mean to do it, and you don't have to explain it all now. What I want to do right now is help you._

 _But aren't you scared of what I might do to you?_

She was, but she didn't think this mattered at the moment.

 _It doesn't matter how I feel about it. I know how I can help you, and I want to do it now before it's too late._

 _Then please do it._

 _Okay. First, just relax. Try not thinking too much about how scared you are. Think about how you feel when you're about to fall asleep, or when you're playing your favorite game. Or try to imagine being in the most beautiful place you can think of, like a garden or a waterfall._

At that moment, Christine could actually feel it as Rose was letting go of her stress. The tension which kept running through her body was slowing down, and she could picture Rose imagining herself in a large field full of sunflowers and dandelions. The more she relaxed, the brighter the sun seemed to be shining.

 _And now, take three deep breathes through your nose while closing your eyes. Try doing it slowly, because if you're breathing too quickly, you'll start feeling strange and scared again._

Rose did as she said, keeping her eyes closed and her legs crossed, reminding Christine of some of the yoga classes she saw going on in the community center back at home. At first, she sounded as if she was trying too hard, but for the last two times, she remained steady and calm, and the breathing came about more naturally.

 _How are you feeling now, Rose?_

 _A little better._

 _Good. Now slowly open your eyes, and you'll see that you'll be able to start moving again._

And as she started doing so, Rose started noticing that she could move her fingers around once again. The more her field started fading away, the more mobile she was becoming. Within seconds, she found herself slowly standing up, and Jackie, Allison, and Clara became aware that she was conscious once again.

"Rose! Are you okay, love?" Jackie asked desperately, rushing up to her in relief.

"I think so," Rose said, but she could feel pain slowly swelling up in her head.

Christine noticed this and said, "Try being careful with her, Mrs. Tyler. If you make her get too uncomfortable, she could start getting a terrible headache…"

Then, when Rose had started blinking due to the pain, the light, which had been off the entire time, suddenly came on again. But when she opened her eyes, it went off once again. It happened two more times (moving at the same time as her eyes did) before the light bulb from the lamp suddenly cracked, sounding more like a window which had been hit with a stone than a small round object that had been broken.

Upon seeing this, Jackie realized for the first time what was really going on with her daughter. Yes, there had been something strange going on in her mind all along. How she was so good at guessing things like who was calling, how she was feeling, and how she'd ended up in a car accident finally made sense. But at the same time, this was also the cause of her blackouts, which seemed to occur at any moment without warning. It also caused her to nearly destroy the hotel room just with that terrifying look in her eyes.

It seemed like a curse had been set upon her daughter.

Clara looked away with a frightened expression on her face, and clung to Allison despite her usual disgust towards. As she did, Allison once again felt her heart racing. Somehow, she felt that she had to the girl out of there as soon as possible, because this was not the first time she'd been around certain unusual conditions.

"Let's go, sweetheart," she said calmly, leading her towards the door. "You're not safe in here."

"No!" Clara cried. "I want to know what's happening to Rose!"

"We'll talk about that later, Clara. Right now, we need to get you out of her," and she opened the door.

Clara tried to release herself from Allison's strong grip, but she refused to let her go. Pretty soon, they were gone, leaving Jackie alone with the others.

It was after this happened that Harry started gaining consciousness once again. However, for a brief moment, as he struggled to see clearly, he forgot where he was. He was seeing himself as he'd been twelve years before, being once again buried in sand in the planet telepathos, which was inhabited by aliens known as the telephibians. They had between eight and thirty eyes, but no hands or feet. All movement was done through their eyes, and as a result, they were capable of doing anything from picking up a small rock to causing dangerous sandstorms which sometimes went on for years in certain parts of the planet. If you provoked them in any way, their manner of attack was to stare straight into your eyes, blink once, and you would be pushed down with the strongest force imaginable.

But upon gaining more awareness of his surroundings, he remembered that this time, it wasn't the work of a dangerous alien. It had been a young girl, someone whom you wouldn't suspect would possess such strong and terrifying powers. And when his vision had recovered enough, he didn't see the grim, neutral expression the telephibians had as they struck whatever object or creature they perceived to be a threat on Rose's face. Instead, there was this look of panic and fear in her eyes, which looked as if they were struggling to hold back tears. Her lips were trembling, and her pretty blonde hair was covering much of her face, almost as if she were purposely trying to hide how afraid she really was.

"Doc!" Christine said, being the first one to notice that he'd recovered. She ran up to him and, forgetting some of his past precautions against doing so, she flung her arms around him. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I think I'm okay, Christine," he managed to say in a slightly quivering voice, giving her a small hug. "Just have to adjust a little after that blow in the head, but I've been in worse incidents before. If I could handle them then, I can do it again now."

"I did that technique you taught me for getting someone out of a mental shutdown, and it worked. Rose is okay once again, but her mom seems very worried."

"Well done, girl," Harry said with a small smile, patting Christine's back with affection. "Looks like you've been listening to me more often than I realized. Go on with that and maybe you could be a doctor yourself someday."

"No way, Doc," Christine scoffed. "I still can't memorize the names of all those bones from the chart you gave me, and I'm not even close to getting a hundred percent on my other science and math work. What makes you think I could learn all that later on?"

"You never know, Chris. You're improving more with everything we do, so don't be surprised if you discover you're good at something you never suspected you'd do well in."

That was when he noticed Jackie. She'd been watching over Rose most of the time, but when she turned to look at him, she glared at him with a look of complete mistrust, showing no trace of the friendliness from before.

And it was this which made him get up and try to resume his duties from before. He felt that he'd been the one who provoked her to have that breakdown, and as difficult as it would, he wanted to do the best he could to make things right again.

When Rose saw him approaching, she lowered her head with a look of shame. She was fully aware of what she had done at this point, and unlike her mother, whom she could hear internally cursing Dr. Sullivan through every word of concern she gave her, she knew that it was pointless to blame other people for what had happened. He'd been trying to help her, yet this had done nothing to prevent her most dangerous powers from being unleashed.

"Rose," Harry said gently as he tried to sit down beside her. "I'm so sorry about what I did. I didn't realize that you…"

But before he could go on, he felt Jackie's palm strike him through the cheek. "You sick bastard!" she screamed. "I trusted you to look over my daughter, and instead you made her go crazy enough to nearly destroy this place!"

"Mrs. Tyler, I'm sorry," Harry tried to explain. "I really did try to help her. I knew from the start at least part of what her condition was, and I had planned how I was going to examine her. But then something unexpected happened, and I did something which might have triggered her to go into the state she was in. I had no idea something like this would happen."

"And how do you expect that to be of any reassurance to me? For all I know, you could have seen my daughter as the perfect subject for that research you're supposed to be working on and were willing to manipulate her with some kind of mind-controlling experiment. And even if it was all an accident, you still put her life in danger. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't call the police right now."

"First of all, I have very strong connections with people who know what kind of work I do and would not permit me to be prosecuted. Also, do you think they would believe a single thing you told them about what Rose has done? They could declare either of the two of you as insane, and believe me when I say that the last place you would want your daughter to end up in is in a mental ward."

Although he'd meant to sound more cautionary than threatening, the latter was what Jackie seemed to be suspecting. "You really are up to no good, are you?"

"At this point, I don't care what you think of me. I've been working with people like your daughter for twelve years, Mrs. Tyler, and because of what I've done, many doctors and academics know more about Extra Sensory Perception than ever before. Right now, all I want you to do is listen to what I have to tell you about what I know about this. Even if you question my intentions, understand that what I know could help your daughter have a better life, just as I have done with Christine and am trying to do for Clara. So even if it's just for her sake, just listen."

After this, he looked at Rose and said, "How are you feeling right now, Rose?"

"I think I'm okay. Christine was able to help me out when I became still, so I feel a little better than I usually do."

"That's good. But if you start feeling sick, I have a medicine in here that could help you get better. I'm going to speak alone with your mum now, and you're going to go along with Christine to join Ms. Willington and Clara. Christine will have the medicine along with her, so if you get a little sick later, just let her know and she'll give it to you. Is that okay?"

"Yes," Rose answered.

Christine had already gotten the bottle of green liquid out of the pile of debris on the floor (although as Jackie had been confronting Harry, all of the furniture had automatically repaired itself, just as what had occurred during Rose's first breakdown at Sarah Jane's house). Seeing all the tension going on between Harry and Rose's mother, however, she decided that it was better if they just saw it for themselves, and to go on with what she knew Harry wanted her to do.

"You ready, Christine?" she heard him ask her, trying to sound as enthusiastic as he usually did when getting her to perform some important task during their lessons, but with his voice still coming out as nervous.

"All set, Doc," she responded, walking up to them with the bottle in her hand. Jackie once again looked around with concern, partially because she'd noticed that the furniture was fixed and back where it had been before, and also because she remembered where she had seen this bottle before.

"Hold on. Is that the medicine which you put in my bag when I first met the both of you?" she asked.

"It is," Christine responded. "It's supposed to help psychic people get better from pain or breakdowns resulting from their powers."

"And why couldn't you just include a note on that when you gave it to me in the manner in which you did?" Jackie didn't sound as angry as she had before, but the frustration in her tone refused to go away.

"Look, Mrs. Tyler. Just let Rose go along with Christine right now. I'll explain about it as soon as we're alone."

Jackie sighed. "Go along with her, Rose. I'll see you again soon." She was still upset with Harry, but she had no hard feelings towards Christine at all. She really seemed to care about how well Rose was, and if she had the same strong powers as Rose did, perhaps she could become a good friend to her, even if she lived in Florida.

Christine followed Rose along as they walked out together. And before they were gone, Rose noticed once the red stains which were on the wall.

The haunting words from before were now gone, but the dry, almost sickening color left behind still made her shiver from fear. Although she had no idea what those large words she'd seen when she'd been in that frozen state had meant, just looking at the gory red color which surrounded it was enough to make her realize that it meant something important.

Important and scary.

 **Part 2 of this (I didn't want to make this chapter as long as the last one) will be coming out as soon as possible, after which we'll get into the dark adventures of Jackie and Rose as they take up residence in the hotel.**

 **And be sure to watch for more signs of "DAB FLOW". They may be gone for a while, but those mysterious words will make an appearance again pretty soon.**

 **As for the mention of the telephibians, do not try looking them up in any Doctor Who episode, book, audio, or website. They are part of a non-canon adventure I've thought up in which the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry meet some telekinetic aliens, who may or may not have some connection with psychic humans. See later chapters, including the next one, for more information on them.**

 **Once again, thanks to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, following, or favoring. Your support is strongly appreciated.**


	17. Chapter 17

When the girls were gone, Jackie and Harry took seats beside each other in the once again neatly set up table. For a while, they remained silent, with Harry opening up one of his many folders to make sure all important papers were still in place (seeing how everything had been scattered about just a while ago), and was somewhat surprised to see that every paper he'd placed in it was still there. Although there was one document which was covered with what looked like red paint, it was the only one which had been damaged in any way. All the others remained in good shape.

As for Jackie, she just stared out the window in deep thought. She couldn't understand how she had spent so many years without noticing how her daughter had such strong and dangerous powers. Could it have been all the alcohol which made her so oblivious? Or was it just how stressful her life was? People with major struggles often found themselves ignoring the world around them, as Jackie had observed since childhood when she noticed that a couple of her neighbors had no idea of some major news because they spend so much time working for so little in return. But was it possible that anyone would fail to observe a family member with some strong condition or abilities which could take a turn for the worse? Yes, she'd noticed how Rose was always bringing up John Smith or making some correct guess on how she was or who was about to unexpectedly show up, not to mention those blackouts, but she hadn't started considering that it was something serious until now.

Noticing how upset she looked, Harry finally spoke up, saying "I don't know what I can do to make this easier for you, Jackie, except say that I honestly didn't intend to have Rose do something like this. In all this time working with people like her, I'd never seen anyone who's telekinetic."

"Look," Jackie explained. "I guess I can believe that you didn't provoke Rose on purpose, but I still think you unintentionally did something which caused her to unleash these powers. It's going to take a lot for you to fully gain my trust, but I think the least you can do right now is explain to me what it is you know about this."

Harry nodded. "I understand. It really was my fault no matter which way you look at it, but I'll do my best to let you know everything you need to be aware of."

"Okay," Jackie responded.

"All right. So do you want to start by hearing what I actually do as a doctor, or an explanation of ESP?"

"Well, as careless as it may sound for a mother, I want to know how it is that you were able to discover what you did about Rose, so put the ESP explanation aside for a while and tell me who you actually are," Jackie said, sounding as if the slight confidence she had around Harry at the start of their meeting was slowly returning.

"All right," Harry said, sounding relieved that she didn't seem too angry anymore. "If you insist, Jackie, then let me start."

"Could you start by saying whether you always knew about the existence of ESP, or if you had to discover it at some point?"

"If you're asking if I was aware of it since I was a boy, then I'm afraid that's not true. We didn't even have a cinema where I grew up, and comic books were practically banned, so I never gave much thought to human beings having some kind of powers. As far as I knew, the five senses and our ability to think about so much were enough to consider humans the most powerful beings anywhere, so there was no reason to think that they could or should do more."

"And then, I became a naval sergeant in order to pay off my expenses from university, serving as a medical officer when I finally graduated from medical school. I was getting no support from my family at that point, so I was on my own and willing to take on anything to get by. To my relief, I didn't find myself in the middle of one of the many wars and military conflicts which were going on in the seventies. However, with my luck, I still got myself in the middle of a near deadly situation. It was…"

"Let me guess. You encountered a sailor whose telekinetic powers caused a devastating hurricane," Jackie said sarcastically.

Harry laughed. "That would make for quite a thrilling tale, Jackie, but remember how I said that I'd never met a telekinetic person before seeing Rose today. However, what actually happened is still a rather exciting story, but for time's sake, all I can say is that another soldier encountered some strange creatures, and for once, I was able to be the hero instead of the one accidently causing trouble. In fact, it was such a major accomplishment that I was promoted to an exclusive military organization in England."

Jackie was about to ask what these strange creatures were, but decided it was best to just let him move on. After all, with all the unusual things she'd seen today, she thought it best not to set herself up for too many surprises.

"When I got to this organization, I was given two major tasks by the brigadier. The first was to be on the lookout for any more of those creatures I encountered overseas, and to be prepared to help anyone who found themselves under an unexpected attack. The other was to keep an eye out for a woman who started becoming a regular visitor at the organization, usually to assist their scientific advisor. She was a journalist, but her investigations went beyond simply asking questions to get the full story behind a crime scene. Sometimes, all she had to do was look someone in the eye, and she was immediately able to tell who was the perpetrator, as well as every detail of the situation, even if the person she was interviewing had no idea about it themselves."

He did not need to go further on before Jackie asked, "And this was the first psychic person you ever met?"

"The first person whom I knew for sure was psychic is a better way to put it. For all I know, I could have known dozens back in my school days or in the Navy, but we just never find out everything some people are capable of. At the time, though, I thought the Brigadier was pulling my leg. I figured that since they were hunting down these ail…um…" Pausing for a moment (and getting a suspicious glance from Jackie), he finally said, "Creatures, they thought they could pull any anything off, including having carnival freaks or fortune tellers over for visits. This was whom I thought this woman was when I first heard of her."

"So you were in for a big surprise when you actually met her."

"You can say that again," Harry said with a grin. "The moment I first saw her, she was in on the action already, making sure she could do whatever was possible to help the other members of this organization. Just by seeing all that, I immediately realized that I was wrong in thinking she was just there to fool around."

"And then what happened?"

"When I was given a part in their latest mission, I had this silly thought of myself as finally getting to be like James Bond," he said with a chuckle. "And then the woman repeated back what I was thinking, looking at me as if I were some excited schoolboy. I was so embarrassed and shocked that I kept saying she was wrong, that she must have been reading someone else's mind and…let's just say it really was a surprise for me."

Jackie smiled. "It was indeed. So this woman became your first patient?"

"Technically speaking, she was, but we got together under some rather unconventional ways. As a matter of fact, almost the whole time I was examining her, we were traveling."

"So is that supposed to explain all the visits to these universities from around the world?"

Harry paused for a while, thinking of the right way to explain this to Jackie. After a while, he said, "That actually came along later, when I got back from my travels with her and got assigned to share the information I got from her to assist universities which were trying to do research on ESP. What I did with Sarah Jane Smith… that's actually where Rose's friend John Smith comes into play."

Upon hearing this, Jackie shook her head and started laughing in a sarcastic manner. "No, please don't tell me this John Smith nonsense is actually a part of her condition as well. If people with ESP are constantly seeing some kind of invisible people, then my daughter is certainly set for trouble later on."

"It's not always a part of ESP, but some psychic people are able to sense something which is around all of us but which others can't notice with just the five senses."

During his time with Sarah, she had told him that she'd once been able to locate a dead body because she'd heard the sound of a heart beating when she would walk out into an open field as the sun was setting. One night, during a full moon, she and her friends had started digging around the field, and that's when they'd found the body of a man who'd been reported missing two months before. This ended up becoming a major story for her university's newspaper, and one of Sarah's first major achievements as a journalist. Although Harry didn't believe in ghosts back then, he still felt as if it might be true that Sarah was capable of getting some kind of calling from whatever was beyond typical human perception.

"But are all people with this alike in their abilities?" Jackie asked "Are they born with it, or does it develop due to some strange reason over time."

"Most of the evidence we've gathered shows that ESP is present in people from birth. In some cases, there's one or more family members who are in some way psychic, which has led many leading researchers to think that extra sensory perception is genetic. Do you know of anyone who could have been psychic in your family, or if there were any unusual circumstances regarding her birth?"

Jackie tried to think back on some of her relatives, seeing if she could remember if any of them had as good an ability to sense emotions or future events the way Rose did, but she couldn't. The one person who might have fit that description was her great aunt, who seemed to do nothing except shout out warnings of bad luck and go on about how the events described in the Book of Revelations were soon to begin during the last years of her life. However, this was probably due to how she was always ill and cranky than it was to psychic powers. And she'd never known any of Pete's family members (his explanation for their absence was that his parents had vanished without a trace and he became a ward of the state), so she couldn't look back on them at all.

"I honestly can't think of anyone in my family who could have been like that," she said anxiously. "Although when Rose was born, I almost had to have a c section, and for days after she was born, she would often spend a long time crying for what seemed like no reason."

Harry nodded and wrote this down. Patti had told him something very similar regarding Christine's birth, only she'd actually had to go through with the cesarean section.

"Are there any other known causes?" Jackie asked.

"People have come up with many other far-fetched theories over the years, but the majority of them have been discredited by current research. Among them included selling your soul to the devil if it was believed that someone was up to no good, or magical drinking water or the blessings of fairies or angels if it lead to heroic actions. In the early twentieth century, some believed that ESP went hand-in-hand with being either mentally ill or what they used to call being feeble-minded. One scientist even thought that…"

"I don't want to hear what people thought in the past!" Jackie yelled, tired of once again having to deal with rambling. "I want to hear what they know now!"

"It's just as I already told you, Jackie," Harry said. "The only reasonable cause which has been drawn by modern research is that ESP is genetic. It's not necessary to have a psychic relative for this to happen, but in several cases I've looked into, there has been at least one relative who was believed to have similar abilities."

"Okay, so what do these powers usually consist of?"

"The most common abilities associated with ESP are precognition, or being able to look into the future, and being able to sense what another person is thinking. About eighty percent of people with ESP are able to do this, although it's not uncommon for some people to be able to one thing and not the other, or to have one ability to a lesser degree than another. For example, Christine is able to read minds, but she can't guess when someone's going to pay a visit, or have visions of someone getting into an accident. Are you getting it?"

Jackie nodded. "Yes. Go on."

"Some other abilities, which are present in about thirty percent of psychic people, include retrocognition, which is the ability to look into a person's past, and remote viewing, which involves the perception of events occurring in the present without actually being there as they are going on."

"But can't they look into someone's past by just reading their mind?"

"No, because you know how we're not thinking about our pasts at every moment," Harry explained. "To do this would require them to look deeply into the subconscious, which could be dangerous for some individuals. This usually happens when a psychic person witnesses an action which can give insight into a person's past, like if you were to see someone looking out into the sky from their balcony at night and you have a vision of them doing the same thing ten years before when they were on a road trip with their family."

"Okay. I understand," Jackie said. "So how does telekinesis and seeing ghosts come into play?"

Harry knew she wasn't going to like what she heard, but he had to bring it up sooner or later. He'd promised himself that he was going to be honest with her, so he decided to go ahead and began:

"There have actually been no recorded cases of telekinesis in humans. As a matter of fact, some researchers have completely dismissed it as science fiction. But I once encountered creatures which were able to move things with their minds. As a matter of fact, it was during one of the trips I made with Sarah Jane Smith."

"And where was this?"

"Believe it or not, it was on another planet."

And just as Harry guessed would happen, he heard that same sarcastic laugh again, yet there wasn't a trace of humor on Jackie Tyler's face.

"Okay. I think I know how you felt back when you first joined that organization you were talking about earlier. So, first I find out my daughter has these scary psychic powers, and now you're telling me that you once set foot on another planet. What's next? Am I going to find out that one of the closets in this hotel leads to a magical world, or that vampires are the ones responsible for half of the murders which occur in London?"

 _If only she knew about the TARDIS,_ Harry thought to himself when she brought up the closet. "Well, Jackie," he responded with a small smile, "I can't tell you for certain whether any of these other things you mentioned are real, but you already know that I've seen a lot of things which others believe to be simply fantasies or science fiction. And until today, I actually thought no human could ever have telekinesis, so you can say we're on the same boat when it comes to that matter."

"And since you bring up other planets, I'm supposing these creatures you've been talking about are none other than aliens."

"You got that right, although the aliens I saw on the planet Telepathias were different from the ones I encountered in the navy."

"I see," Jackie said with a nod.

"And on this trip, Sarah and I were actually accompanied by another alien, only this one looked and even acted so much like a human that I sometimes forgot what he really was. As a matter of fact, he was the one who was the organization's scientific advisor, and the one whom Sarah had worked alongside with at the time I first arrived there. When he was there, he went by the name John Smith."

Jackie now frowned. "John Smith? Are you trying to say that this alien is the same invisible being which Rose has been seeing?"

"Based on what Rose told me when I tried to examine her, everything she said corresponded with what I know about him, so I think he might actually be this imaginary friend of hers," Harry responded.

"I don't understand," Jackie said, trying to take it all in. "Is this John Smith fellow supposed to be invisible to everyone except for psychics? Was Sarah Jane Smith the only one in this organization who could see him, or were you and all the others working there able to see him as well?"

"He wasn't invisible to anyone at the time, Jackie. As a matter of fact, he always liked making his presence perfectly clear to us. If you could have seen some of the costumes he put on the first time I met him…"

"Just get to the point!" Jackie yelled, starting to get frustrated again.

"The point is, John Smith, or the Doctor, as he liked being called, wasn't just visible to psychics at the time. Rose started telling me a little about it, and from what I gathered, he trapped himself in her head when he was in danger of dying around two years ago. The Doctor had rather unusual methods of escaping death, so in some ways, it doesn't seem surprising that he'd try something like this."

Jackie now stood up, looking more upset than she'd been before. "Hold it right there," she said, with a furious look in her face. "So you're trying to tell me that Rose has had an alien stuck in her head for _two years_?"

"From what she told me, yes," Harry responded, afraid of what she might do next.

"And therefore, that can explain all the times she's appeared crazy to other people, and the fact that she's had blackouts?"

"Other psychic people can have blackouts too, Jackie."

This did nothing to make things better. Instead, she seemed to get angrier, saying, "So what's the point of trying to convince that everything will be okay for Rose? She has powers which you had no idea actually existed, and for all I know, it might be because of this John Smith. It's as if she's living with some virus or parasite which is slowly eating her up, and perhaps these psychic powers of hers are what's making her the perfect host. What's the point of these special powers then, Dr. Sullivan? Why not try dedicating your time to finding a bloody _cure_ for this curse than further complicating things for people, especially those as young as Christine or Clara? But then again, you've never worked with children before, which just stands to show how you really know nothing at all about how to treat my daughter!"

Harry did not like what he was hearing. The last thing he wanted was for Jackie Tyler to lash out on him again, but there was something else which bothered him even more. From what she was saying, it seemed as if she couldn't accept the fact that Rose had ESP. With most of his patients, they were usually relieved to finally learn the facts behind their abilities, particularly when they realized that what they did was usually as natural as the ability to see, hear, and touch. Even Patti Green, with all the trouble which seemed to come along with Christine's powers, had been glad to learn that under the right circumstances, she could have a normal life and be in control of what she could do.

But then again, the situation with the Doctor really did complicate things. He really was going to have to work through this situation in some way.

"Look, Jackie, please calm down," he said calmly. "If you get upset about how Rose is, it will do her more harm than good."

"But if she's having constant blackouts while having this parasitic alien inside her, what do you will happen to her later on?" Jackie yelled out in anger. "Do you honestly think she can remain healthy and mentally stable if she goes on with the way she is? I don't know what kind of lives Sarah Jane Smith, Christine, or Clara have, Dr. Sullivan, but Rose's experiences with these powers, from what I've seen, have caused her nothing but harm! Others have already been bullying her and casting her out because of how they see her acting. Do you really think things will get any better for her in the future if nothing is done to get rid of these powers of hers?

"Jackie, you honestly don't understand what you're saying…"

"I know perfectly well what I'm saying! And if you don't try doing something to get rid of that alien or this ESP, then I'll take her to someone who will. Perhaps she would get more help in a mental hospital than she would in your hands!"

"You won't be able to do that even if you did find someone who was willing to go through with it."

"Why not?" Jackie yelled back.

"Because there is no way I or anyone else could get rid of Rose's powers without causing her permanent damage, Jackie," Harry answered back firmly. "Not too long ago, many well-regarded medical professionals and psychiatrists attempted to 'cure' people from extrasensory perception by giving them psychoactive drugs or lobotomies. Many of these people either suffered from brain damage or died, and in some cases, this was exactly what these trusted doctors intended to happen."

Upon hearing this, Jackie fell silent. She'd just spend the past couple of minutes thinking how good it would be if Rose could be cured from what she was seeing as a curse or even a disease, and how it could save her from all the trouble she believed would be awaiting her if she went on as she was. And somehow, she hadn't been able to see the consequences of thinking in this manner. Was hoping to free her daughter from so much pain really worth taking all those risks this doctor was describing, perhaps even costing her life?

But before she could go on, Harry held her hand and said, "I didn't mean to scare you, Jackie. I probably shouldn't have revealed so much, but you have to understand that nothing good can come from trying to cure Rose. Living with any kind of differences can be difficult for people, but if we try to strip them of their differences, we'd be destroying an important part of who that person is."

Jackie looked up with shame. "I don't know. I see what you're trying to say with this, but I just don't know how I'll ever learn to accept this ESP if it just keeps making things hard for Rose."

"It's always going to be a little hard for them. Sarah didn't have it easy when she was younger either. Her mother died when she was young, many people tried to take advantage of her if they found out about her powers, and it took years for some of her family members, particularly her aunt, to accept her as she was. But her grandmother was psychic as well, so she always had someone to help her. Christine has had a hard time adjusting as well, so much so that she had to stop attending regular school."

"Really? Why?" Jackie asked in shock.

"She unintentionally did something to one of her classmates when she read his mind," Harry started saying (he didn't want to cause more tension by saying what it was Christine did). "Afterwards, a friend whom she'd told about her powers ended up telling other people that Christine was the one who'd caused this. Many of the kids in her class started avoiding her or bullying her, and it went so far that some girls tried to push her down the stairs."

"Oh dear," Jackie said. "What happened?"

"I had started seeing her at that point, so I went to pick her up from school. She only had a sprained ankle, but the poor girl was so scared that she could barely speak to me when I tried asking her what happened without crying so hard," and he shook his head as he remembered that awful time. It had been the only time he'd seen her cry so far, but one of several occasions in which he saw how sensitive she really was, and how easily she could break down if someone tried to hurt her.

"I confronted the principal about it, but she didn't seem bothered by it. She even said that if Christine was being as problematic as the other kids claimed she was, she probably had it coming all along, even though her teacher never reported having problems with her at all. I got so upset by this, but the principal kept justifying it by saying that they were trying to help these kids grow up, and that the real world was a lot tougher than anything they ever faced in school. So at the end, I decided that if the teachers didn't care about the student's safety, then I didn't want to force Christine to put up with it anymore. Since now, I've been homeschooling her, and she's been doing quite well now."

"Are you saying that Rose might have to leave school as well?" Jackie asked. This wasn't doing much to make her feel better.

"I don't know what will happen to her later, Jackie, but she's going to need you to support her through both the good and the bad times. If you keep acting as if her powers are such a bad thing, she'll only feel bad about herself and possibly even get worse. Part of the reason Christine's doing so well is not only because I'm there to help her, but also because her mother has been able to accept her abilities as simply another sense, something she's able to do which no one else can."

"I'll try," Jackie said. "But it's going to take a while for sure."

"I understand, but for now, here's something which might help."

He handed her the bottle with the bluish green liquid and the ESR label, and then a copy of the large book on extrasensory perception which she'd seen earlier.

"This medicine is called ESR, or Extrasensory Relief. We actually discovered it on the planet Telepathia when we saw the telephibians drinking a similar liquid in order to lessen their dangerously high telepathic capacities. Because they had been running out of it for quite some time before we arrived, the destruction they were causing with their powers kept getting worse, causing sandstorms and many of their fellow creatures to be dragged down to death. One of them, after being able to communicate telepathically with Sarah, showed her, the Doctor, and me the elements which could be used to produce this liquid, and we ended up making enough of it to help many of the telephibians gain control of themselves. As compensation for what we did for them, they allowed us to take as much of the ESR as we wanted for Sarah, because the chief telephibian was able to demonstrate that it could be used with any creature in the universe who had some form of a sixth sense."

"Interesting," Jackie said. "But didn't you have to get this medicine approved of in some way when you got back to Earth?"

"I demonstrated the medicine along with my other research when I first got involved in the academic ESP research projects in the University of West Berlin in 1981. Of course, I made sure to give credit to Sarah as well when I presented it, and it actually made us quite a bit of money."

"Enough to make you rich?"

"Quite close, actually," Harry said with a laugh. "What's actually been making me a lot of money lately are the sales of this book, which got published two years ago and has been sold in many countries which are leaders in ESP research. It includes a lot of information I couldn't possibly find the time to talk you about right now without keeping you here much longer."

Jackie looked through it. The name of the author was listed as H.S. Schultz, which she assumed to be a pseudonym, and it included over sixty long reports which went into great depth on how extrasensory perception worked, explaining everything from all the known types of ESP, its history, its effects on the mind, body, and development, as well as summaries on different experiments which had expanded further studies, along with graphs and anatomical photos to supplement the text.

"Wow," she said with amazement when she finished looking through it. "You must have been a very busy man in all those years you were working on this."

"And I still am, Jackie. Regarding the medicine, you should only give it to her after she's had a blackout or if she starts feeling under the weather after using her powers. You can consult the book for almost any question you have, and of course, I could always give you my number if you want to give me a call."

"Thank you so much for your help," Jackie said with a smile. "But before we go, can I ask just one more thing?"

"Go ahead."

"Is ESP officially recognized by scientists?"

"The scientific community as a whole does not recognize it. However, there have always been factions among scientists in support of many things, some of which have been terrible concepts, but others, like those researching ESP, have actually been doing a lot of good for individuals, especially over the last couple of decades. I'm probably one of the most important individuals who is neither a scientist nor a parapsychologist to have made a major contribution to the field, but there are many more who do plenty more work than I have without being recognized."

"And yet you still use a pseudonym for publishing your book?"

"We all do. If people were aware of who actually did the work, they'd be able to track us down more easily, and that could mean trouble for many of us."

"I see. I've used my own name the few times I've had work published, and that hasn't either done me any favors nor any trouble."

"Really?" Harry asked, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, but one more question."

"Yes?"

"Is there anything you can about John Smith right now?"

"I honestly don't know. Perhaps the ESR will lessen the effects of having him inside her head, but if something more were to be done about it, I'd have to get in contact with UNIT, the military organization I was a part of all those years ago."

"I see. And will they get in contact with us?"

"They should if I tell them to."

"All right. That's it for now. Can we get back to Rose and the others right now?"

"Sure. Let's go."

And so they left together, with Jackie being at least partially reassured about her daughter.

...

Afterwards, there was really only one place they could find the girls: at the rec room, where Clara was now trying to play ping pong with a reluctant Allison, and where Christine and Rose were seated in a small couch with the television turned on to a morning soap, but which neither of them were watching because they were having a conversation.

"So, how's Rose been doing, Chris?" Harry asked cheerfully upon approaching Christine and Rose.

"She's okay for now," Christine answered. "She had a headache for a while, but it wasn't bad enough for me to have to give her the ESR. Allison gave her a glass of water, and then she got better."

"Are you really feeling better, Rose?" he asked, turning to her.

"I am. Did everything go well with your meeting with my mummy?"

"She took it a little hard at first, but she's starting to accept it. You should understand that it may take some time for her to get used to it all."

"I think I do," Rose said, glad to see that her mother wasn't as upset as before.

"Right-o, and how's Clara."

"For a while, she kept wanting to talk to Rose about went on in our room, and Allison had to agree to start playing with her so she could leave her alone."

By now, Clara had left the ping pong table and ran up to Harry. "Are you going to tell us what happened, Dr. Sullivan? Is there something really bad going on with Rose?"

Harry smiled at her. "There's nothing bad going on with Rose, Clara. I will talk to both you and Christine about what happened later, and I'll also try to explain to you what I found out about you from your checkups." (The checkups consisted mainly of the tests he gave her upon first meeting up with her as well as what he'd observed during her episodes).

"Okay. I think I can wait for a while," Clara replied.

"As a matter of fact, Christine, we're probably have to delay our flight back to Florida by two days. I'm going to have to make an unexpected appointment somewhere before we leave."

"Does it have anything to Rose, Doc?" Christine asked.

"It does. I don't know how long it will take, and I'm not going to be able to bring you."

"But I don't want to stay here all on my own," Christine complained.

"You might not have to." He then turned to Jackie. "Would you be willing to look after Christine tomorrow, Jackie?"

Rose looked at her mother. "Please say yes, mummy. I like her, and you have a lot of time to do it now."

"I don't think I'll be able to, sweetheart," Jackie said regretfully. "I was just talking to Allison about possibly meeting up with Michael Truman tomorrow to talk about working as a caretaker here."

"Really?" Harry asked in genuine surprise. "You'd be willing to look after this place for almost three months? I thought maybe your writing would help you earn money for now."

"I never said that I've gotten a lot published," Jackie responded.

"And writing alone wouldn't be enough to help her pay the bills," Allison remarked, getting ready to go to the shop to start her shift.

"Although I was planning on taking Rose to get looked over by a family who lives not far from here," Jackie said, returning to the subject in question. "Rose, what would you say about having Christine come with you to see the Marshes?"

"I'd like that," Rose said excitedly.

"And I don't have a problem with it," Harry said in agreement.

"So does that settle it? You can go over to your appointment, and I'll come pick up Christine to take her over there at whatever time you'll see as best."

"Yes. I'll call you tonight to tell you when I have to leave."

"All right," Jackie said. "Thank you for all your help, Dr. Sullivan," and she shook his hand.

"It was my pleasure, Jackie. And if you have any more questions, you know what to do."

"Of course," Jackie said. Then, taking her daughter's hand, she said, "Come along now, Rose."

"Goodbye, Dr. Sullivan," Rose called out. "Goodbye, Christine and Clara."

The three of them waved as they left, wishing them good luck, with Harry and Christine wishing that things really would go well for them.

 **So, that's it for this part. Next, we'll see what goes on with Rose and Christine as they get together once again, how the job interview will go for Jackie, and what kind of appointment Harry will be making. Also, the Doctor/ John Smith might be returning to Rose again soon!**

 **I've started working on the Sarah Jane Smith prequel as well. It's going to be titled "Of Time and the Mind" and will be posted in about a week or two. I still have to make plans for the Victorian Clara story, so I can't make any promises on when that one will be posted yet.**

 **Once again, thanks for all your feedback, and I look forward to continuing on with this story and the series!**


	18. Chapter 18

Saturday morning, Jackie and Rose got up early once again and rode up to Northern Horizons.

"Mummy, are you okay?" Rose asked before Jackie prepared to go inside to get Christine.

"Of course I am, sweetheart," Jackie answered. "It's just that it's going to take some time for me to get used to all this."

"You mean my powers?"

"Yes. It's not like I can ask any professional out there for advice, or go around telling what few friends I have left for support," Jackie replied, sounding as if she was talking more to herself than to her daughter.

But Rose fully understood what she meant. She would never be able to tell someone like Hannah Lewis or Mia anything about her powers. John Smith had always strongly demanded that her powers remain a secret, and she had no doubt that if he knew what was going on now, that he would…

 _Your mother's right, Rose_ , came his voice just as she was thinking about this. _It's never certain whom you can trust on such matters, even if such people appear to be so understanding and accepting. On some occasions, those who appear to be the most supportive of you are the first to reject you when they find out there's something different about you._

Rose turned to see if her mother was still there, and noticed that she had left. That was good. Seeing how stressed she'd appeared since yesterday, it was probably better if she didn't get caught in a conversation with John Smith.

 _Do you know what happened yesterday, John Smith?_ Rose asked curiously.

 _Well, I was slightly aware of the more interesting bits of your appointment with Harry Sullivan. Glad to see that the old chap has been doing something useful over the last couple of years, although there's really no way he could have done it all without my influence, or that of Sarah's, for that matter. He was certainly amusing company, and very kind and loyal towards me and Sarah, but he was a little thoughtless sometimes._

 _I don't think Dr. Sullivan is thoughtless, John Smith. He seemed to understand what was going on with me when our appointment was just beginning, and he could explain things like how feelings affect our health pretty well. But he did get so excited when I talked about you that he seemed to forget about everything else he had to do to test my powers, and he just started asking me questions about you to see how much I knew._

 _That's Harry, all right. Show him something amazing, and he'll babble on about it for ages, which was literally the case during his first trip in the TARDIS after being so astonished over discovering a time machine that he decided to test out the gear in the console room, resulting in us landing in an ark full of frozen humans some million years into the future. Although when he did take things seriously, he was capable of making major breakthroughs, or at least being a useful assistant. Perhaps asking questions about you really did help him realize the full extent of your powers._

 _So was I reading your mind when I responded to his questions?_

 _I was certainly recalling that nice little game of jump rope from after my third regeneration, in case you were wondering. I was also thinking back to the spunkiness of some of my old friends when you recited that long list of names, but other than that…_

Rose could now see her mother walking back from the entrance, with a tired-looking Christine holding her hand.

 _She's back, John Smith._

 _All right, Rose. I'll try to keep my mental vocal cords shut and just observe how this other little psychic girl is like._

Jackie had to hold the car door open for Christine to enter, while also maintaining a hold on her hand so she wouldn't lose her balance. Rose immediately saw why when Christine was finally seated, since she leaned her head on the small pink pillow which Jackie always kept in the backseat in case Rose got tired during long car rides and kept blinking, as if she were trying to fall asleep but couldn't. Her hair was all rumpled up, and she was wearing an old Miami Beach t-shirt and blue jeans, which were both heavily wrinkled, as if she'd either slept in those clothes or didn't have time to pick anything better to wear. When her eyes were open, Rose noticed that she had heavy eyelids which she hadn't had yesterday.

"Hey, Rose," Christine managed to say in a sleep voice.

"What's wrong, Christine?" Rose asked anxiously.

Christine gave a small yawn, and then said, "I'll tell you later. Right now, I'm just… too tired,'' and then she closed her eyes again.

Jackie turned around to see them and sighed. "She was in such bad shape when I went to get her, and Dr. Sullivan looked just as bad, if not worse. He barely managed to say anything to me before I left, and it got me worried about whether he'd be able to drive to wherever it is he's headed all on his own. But when I offered him a ride, he straight out refused, insisting that all he needed was some rest before he took off."

"What about Clara?" Rose asked.

"She wasn't there anymore when I arrived. According to what Dr. Sullivan was saying, either her parents or a friend of theirs must have somehow gotten in and taken her when both he and Christine had managed to get what little sleep they got last night. He's planning on calling them later in the day, but it looked like he doubted whether he'd be able to reach them at all."

"That sounds a little weird, doesn't it, Mummy?"

"It sure does, sweetie, but somehow, it doesn't surprise me at all."

"I think I understand why." That hotel did seem like such a scary place, after all. Rose couldn't understand why her mother was so determined to get a job there. With all the scary things she had to face in the past, what made her think she could handle staying in some place like Northern Horizons?

And then, as if for once Jackie had read her daughter's mind instead of it being the other way around, she responded, "If I lost one job due to whatever strange horrors are out there, I'm not going to permit them to let me down this time around. And now that I know the full extent of your abilities, Rose, I think we'll be able to face a little scare or two if we have to. What do you say to that, love? Think you can handle a little adventure?"

"Maybe we can, if we do it together," Rose answered, hoping that they really could, but knowing that even with all her powers, she wouldn't be sure about it until it all began.

When they made it to the Marsh's place, Jackie only managed to give the two girls a wave before having to drive away. Christine, looking as if the small rest in the car had done her a lot of good, managed to get up without anyone having to help her, and followed Rose along towards the entryway.

It wasn't long before Violet Marsh showed up to greet them. Due to the much colder weather, she'd managed to switch from miniskirts to a pair of white, skintight trousers, along with a yellow sweater and brown boots. She was still wearing her nose ring, though, and Rose could see a tattoo of a heart around a bare part of her shoulder which she hadn't noticed before.

"Looks like we've got company again, Tom," Violet called out to her husband in that cheerful yet somewhat assertive tone of hers. "It's Rose and one of her friends."

"Yes, I know, Violet. Jackie rang me up about it yesterday," came Tom's voice from inside.

"Hi, Violet," Rose said. And looking towards Christine, she added, "And this is my friend, Christine Green."

"How do you do, ma'am?" Christine said in a slightly shy voice, looking as if she didn't know what to expect from these people, who lived in such a nice house yet acted quite differently from the few wealthy folks she knew back home.

Violet smiled upon hearing her. "And I'm Violet Marsh, but you can just call me Violet. It doesn't seem like you're from old Britain, is that right, sweetheart? Are you from the states?" she said as she started escorting them inside.

"I am. I'm from Florida, but my grandma was from Puerto Rico, so I'm part Hispanic as well. My full name is actually Christine Mariana Green."

"That sounds interesting," Violet responded. "About fifteen years ago, Tom and I managed to tour around both Puerto Rico and Florida along with our band. Probably one of the most beautiful places we've ever visited."

"You were in a band?" Christine asked, her interest suddenly going up.

"Yes, and we actually still are. It's called the Vagabonds and Ultraviolet. We became famous after having two top-ten hits back in the early seventies. We never made it to the top of the charts thanks to British favorites like T-Rex and Slade, nor did we get that many hits afterwards, but we're still quite well-known, and we manage to attract many fans with our concerts. Nowadays, we run our own production company, with both Tom and me having regular contact with some of the most famous artists in the world."

Tom, who'd been in the kitchen preparing breakfast a while before, came up to greet Rose and Christine in the same manner as Violet had just done. "It's so great to have everyone together during a visit for once. Violet and I don't have to work today, and all three of the kids are here now, since Maureen is home for the weekend from university, and neither Eric nor Heather had any other plans for today. Even Sarah got back from visiting her sister yesterday, so you two might want to pay her a visit later."

Christine smiled. "That sounds great, sir…"

"Just call him Tom, honey. We're not one of those bloody stiffs who insist on being called by proper titles all the time," Violet complained, meaning to sound laid-back with her response, but coming off more as annoyed, as seen by how Christine started looking uneasy once again, wondering if she'd said something wrong.

Thankfully, Tom stepped up, laughing and saying, "Go easy on her, Violet. We've traveled to the states enough to know American courtesy when we see it. Christine's just trying to make a good impression."

'You have a point, Tom," Violet agreed. Then, turning to Christine, she said, "Just ignore me, Christine. I have strong opinions, but I don't always know the right time to express them."

"That's okay. I just don't know how to act when meeting new people sometimes," Christine responded, still feeling a little embarrassed. Rose was surprised by how she was acting, since she seemed a lot more confident when she'd greeted her and her mother yesterday.

Tom then asked the girls, "Have you two had breakfast yet?"

"I only had a muffin and some tea back at the hotel," Christine replied.

"I had cereal, but I'd sure like something else," Rose answered.

"All right, then. I prepared pancakes for everyone, making sure there was enough for seven people. As you might think, I've been in the kitchen since seven o'clock making sure I got everything done." And then, turning to Violet with a sly smile, declared, "With no help from you, of course."

"Now Tom, you know I had to work on our financial documents until midnight. Otherwise, I would had to stay in the bloody office all weekend and would not have been able to spend time with you and the kids. You may have not remembered this because you'd been asleep on the couch since six o'clock, which was when I left."

"Of course. Thanks for the reminder, Vi," Tom joked, already starting to set up the table. "Can you give me a helping hand right now, though?"

"It would be my pleasure," Violet replied, and immediately began filling up a black pitcher with coffee.

"Can we help?" Rose asked.

"Go ahead, girls," Tom said cheerfully. "Although when Maureen and the others come along, you might have to settle with selecting our morning music."

Christine wanted to ask what he meant by that, but decided that it was better to just go along with their task instead of making herself seem more silly by asking pointless questions, and started getting out the silverware from drawers. To her surprise, all the dishes and kitchen equipment didn't seem so different from what her mom, who didn't always make much money, had at home. No fancy tea sets or glossy,breakable decorations appeared to be anywhere in sight.

Within a couple of seconds, she heard this telepathic message from Rose: _Did you want to start talking about what happened now, Christine?_

 _It's going to be a bit hard to explain, but I'll do it._

 _Okay_.

Violet had now set up two plates of pancakes on the table, and motioned to the girls to excuse them from their small task. They took seats next to each other and started eating. However, unlike what they did with their breakfast at the hotel, they now ate rather slowly, taking their time to finish up because their minds were heavily occupied.

 _So,_ Christine began, _When I tried going to sleep at around nine o'clock, I started hearing this awful noise coming from outside, even though the window was fully shut._

 _Couldn't it have just been the wind? I sometimes hear it get really scary at night, and it makes it hard to fall asleep._

 _I thought that was it for a while, so it didn't scare me too much at first. But after about an hour, the noise just kept getting louder and even creepier. When it started, the sound was more like a whistle, or a wolf howling. But later on, the howling continued, but there was another sound which seemed to be mingling in as well. It sounded like a person who was both screaming and crying at the same time. The louder the howling got, the louder the crying was. And then, I could hear a voice yelling for help, and it kept repeating the same two words over and over again._

 _And what were those two words?_

 _I may not have heard them correctly, but it came out sounding like "dab flow"._

Dab flow? Those were the two words Rose remembered seeing on the wall during the telekinetic breakdown. Did this mean that they had some bigger meaning after all? Was it some kind of warning, or from what Christine was saying, a cry for help?

Somehow, perhaps because she was recalling her own deep fear from the night before, Christine didn't seem to sense these thoughts of hers, and she went on. _I tried everything to make the noise go away. I buried my head in my pillow, wrapped myself tightly with my Bugs Bunny blanket, said my prayers, and even tried closing the curtains to make the room fully dark, but none of it worked. The howls and the cries just kept going on._

Rose started shivering. Even with all the scary visions she'd had, she could never recall going through something as frightening as Christine was describing when she was in a "normal" state. From what she could sense about Christine, her abilities appeared to be limited to mind-reading, but how could she know that for sure? It wasn't every day that Rose was able to move objects just by blinking. Perhaps Christine experienced similar powers, but she just wasn't aware of it yet.

 _So then what happened?_ She asked.

 _I went over to wake up Harry, but it turned out that he had been awake the entire time. He told me that he'd seen me tossing and turning, but he wasn't sure if I'd been awake until he'd seen me getting up to close the curtains just a while before. He asked me if something was wrong, and I told him about how I kept hearing the wind howling so loudly that it was scaring me. He said that he could hear it too, and that it really did sound disturbing. But when I asked him if he heard all that screaming and crying, he looked confused and shook his head. He asked if it wasn't possible that I had fallen asleep and heard those noises in a nightmare, and I said no, that I'd been wide awake the entire time. I think that must have scared him a little, but he just patted my shoulder and told me in that cheerful way of his that there was probably nothing to worry about. He was used to hearing such sounds in the night, and he went on telling one of his stories about how when he was in the Navy, it was so hard to sleep sometimes because you not only heard the strong winds, but also the constant crashing of the waves. That problem, he said, could easily be solved by having a good pair of earplugs, and then he handed me the exact same ones he said had belonged to him back in the Navy and in some of the adventures he'd had afterwards. If I put those on, I'd be asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, he tried reassuring me._

 _So I put them on just as he said, and can you guess what happened?_

 _The noise still wouldn't go away._

 _Worse. The moment I had placed them on both my ears, I heard the loudest scream I'd ever heard in my life. I started to panic and shake uncontrollably, but when I tried to pull off the earplugs, they stayed where they were and refused to come off. I cried to Harry for help, and it didn't take long for him to start pulling them out of my ears. Although it took a while, he finally managed to yank them out and throw them across the room. For a while, he just hugged me and let me cry. It wasn't until I'd calmed down a little that he asked me what happened, and when I told him, he seemed so determined to see for himself what was going on. Despite how much I begged him not to do it, he placed the earplugs around his own ears. I think you can guess what happened next._

Now she had really managed to frighten Rose. She could almost hear for herself the terrifying screams which had come from the earplugs, and she looked away from Christine for a while in an attempt to settle her own fear.

 _Should I stop now, Rose? You look like you're getting too scared_ , Christine asked with concern.

 _No, go on. Was it as bad for Dr. Sullivan as it was for you?_

 _He fell unto the bed, and his body was shaking for a while. However, he was able to pull off the earplugs without any help from me. After that, he just sat there looking really scared. Then, he went downstairs to buy this herbal tea which was supposed to help you fall asleep. We both drank some of it, and then he let me put my head in his lap for a while and wrapped me up in my blanket, saying that he would stay beside me until I fell asleep, because he didn't think he'd be capable of dozing off for even a second after that scare we'd both had. I think we stayed like that almost all night._

 _Mummy said Clara was gone in the morning_. _Do you have any idea what happened?_

 _I don't know. It must have happened during the time when Harry and I finally got some sleep, because when we woke up, Harry found a note by the bed saying that Clara was being brought home and that we didn't have to worry about her being gone because she was a lot safer now. Harry says the only clue he had as to what might have happened was that when he went downstairs, he saw a woman dressed in black and white sitting in the lobby, looking at him rather curiously. She asked if he had two girls staying with him in the hotel, and he said he did and then asked her how she knew that. She just looked at him strangely for a while, but then she said…_

But before Christine could go on, they were interrupted when Tom, who had been watching quietly them for a while, asked, "Rose? Christine? Are you guys okay? You were both looking a little pale and still for a while."

"We're okay," Rose answered. "We're just a little tired." But she could already tell that Tom was starting to suspect something.

Tom nodded rather hesitantly, but then walked up to Violet with as much concern as before.

"What's going on, Tom?" Violet asked, noticing the worried look on her husband's face.

"It's the girls, Violet," Tom whispered back, not wanting the girls to hear too much. "When I walked in on them, they were staring at each other and looking very scared and pale. It looked as if they were communicating in some manner without using words.

Violet frowned, thinking about it, and then said, "Is it similar to what goes on when Sarah gets…"

"Yeah," Tom replied. "It's almost exactly similar to the way Sarah would sometimes communicate with her grandmother: having full conversations just by looking at each other, not once having to open their mouths."

"Oh, God," Violet said, shaking her head. "Do you think that might be the reason why Sarah has been seeing Rose, because she might be trying to do something to help her deal with her powers while she's still young?"

"It could be. Remember how she was always describing the way her grandmother had trained her on the correct use of ESP ever since she was young? I think she might have formed that connection of the mind with Rose when she first met her, and that she's now trying to take on the role of mentoring her, just as her grandmother had been all those years ago."

"Did Jackie Tyler tell you anything about it?"

"No. She was awfully distressed the first time I met her, so if she has any idea about it, I don't think she has been able to handle it on her own. That must be why Sarah decided to start helping her out."

"Do you think we should go over to her place and tell her?" Violet asked.

"Perhaps, but maybe we should let them be for a while. Sarah has always said that when two psychics are able to communicate telepathically and one of them isn't in one of those strange states, then it's usually a sign that they're doing well. If something does go wrong later on while they're with us, we'll let her know."

When they looked out the window though, there they saw Sarah Jane walking alongside Maureen, who was dressed in the hippie style that was such a signature part of her parents' style of dress when they were young musicians, with a dark peasant blouse and a brown ruffled skirt, and her strawberry blond hair cut into a bob, and Heather, who was simply wearing an oversized rock t-shirt and baggy grey sweatpants. As always, they were fully at ease with her, feeling free to talk with her over anything they wanted and making attempts (which were usually politely rejected by Sarah) to allow them to participate in one of her assignments. Maureen, who was studying Philosophy ( which had Tom's favorite subject next to music) in university, especially liked asking her for help with some of the many essays she had to write for class, something which Sarah never hesitated to do. Even though they didn't know about her psychic abilities, they understood that she had some sort of knowledge that other people lacked. Maureen believed it to be a strong intrapersonal intelligence, while Heather saw it as a high level of cleverness.

"There's Mum and Dad, Sarah," Maureen finally pointed out. "They're quite busy with the girls staying over."

"The girls?" Sarah asked with surprise. "Isn't it usually Rose and Mickey?"

"Not this time," Heather chimed in. "Apparently, Rose made a new friend not so long ago. Dad said that she's visiting England along with her tutor, although he didn't tell us where she was from."

"Well, I've always been good with welcoming in visitors to England," Sarah said with a smile. "Had a lot of experience with it at one point, as a matter of fact. Perhaps we should go in and see who it is?"

"Of course," Maureen agreed. "The more hospitable we are towards her, the more likely she'll be willing to come back someday."

"And the more friends Rose is able to find, the better," Heather pointed out, who still got really angry and sad when recalling what the kids in Rose's class had done to her on her birthday.

"That is certainly true," Sarah responded, and the three of them went inside the house. And to her surprise, Tom and Violet had not eagerly come up to her as they usually did. Whenever this happened, it was usually a sign that the two were either in some sort of trouble themselves or were trying to handle a troubling situation all on their own, usually with mixed results.

But when she walked into the dining room, she immediately understood what was going on. There she saw Rose seated very still, and looking into the eyes of a curvy, curly haired girl who looked a little older than she was. Not a word passed between them, yet there was this expression on both of their faces which showed that they were in deep thought, trying to communicate in a manner Sarah Jane had been familiar with throughout her whole life, and which she'd done with Rose not so long ago.

"What's going on, Sarah?" Heather asked, interrupting her thoughts.

And that was when Rose finally turned around and noticed who was by her side. The other girl looked up at the same time, giving Sarah Jane a curious glance, as if she was trying to make out who she probably was. Rose, however, immediately looked startled and said aloud, "Sarah Jane, when did you get here?"

And at the same time, she heard a very familiar, eccentric voice from her mind, saying rather cheerfully, _Three psychic minds gathered together at the same place? We're certainly having a field day today, don't you think so, Rose?_

 **I'm glad to say that I'm now on summer vacation, so I'll have a lot more time to update this story. You can now expect an update every week or two, depending on how my schedule is going. I also posted "Of Time and the Mind" a couple of weeks ago, so feel free to check that story out whenever you feel like. I'm planning on posting a story on Clara sometime next month, as well one for Amy if I have time. How often I'll update these stories has yet to be determined.**

 **Thanks for the reviews and follows, and please continue on reading as we approach summer!**


	19. Chapter 19

When Jackie returned to the inside of Northern Horizons once again, she was surprised by how little its appearance seemed to disturb her. The partially-torn china dolls appeared to have more noticeable smiles when she turned to look at them, the furniture looking somewhat cozy; the sort of place where you can take a seat after a long day and enjoy a nice cup of tea. Even the cracks on the wall were just small blemishes that caused you to slightly frown at first, but then turn away forgetting what it was that you found so disfiguring only a moment ago. _It's as if leaving the hotel for the first time and then coming back gives you some sort of amnesia that makes you forget that you found the place so creepy at first sight,_ Jackie thought.

Or perhaps knowing what was going on with Rose really was giving her some form of courage which wasn't there before.

Upon making it to the door where bold black letters formed the words "Michael Truman: Northern Horizons Owner", Jackie paused for a moment, about to take a seat. This wasn't necessary, however, because a young woman with mousy brown hair tied up into a neat ponytail came walking out, carrying both a small binder and a white purse with her. She was wearing a white overcoat with fur adorning it around the neck, black trousers, and brown boots, as well as white gloves despite the fact that it was only a slightly cool day.

"Good day, miss," she said with a friendly smile upon seeing Jackie. "Are you part of the London Private Education Committee for Progress as well?"

"Oh no," Jackie responded with a small laugh, feeling somewhat uncomfortable after hearing the very formal title of the committee this woman was a part of, although it did seem to explain her formal style of dress. "I'm actually here for a job interview for the position of the winter caretaker." She then felt herself blush, astonished at how willingly she admitted such a thing to a woman like this.

"Well, in that case," the woman responded cheerfully, "You will still be able to join us for the LPECP's Christmas party. Mr. Truman has just approved of our request, and he told me that whoever becomes the new caretaker of the hotel will join him in hosting the party. Don't you believe that to be very generous of him?"

Could she really be expressing gratitude, or was it one of the usual arrogant remarks from the posh which were meant to sound polite but which were actually said with the intention of looking down upon those with less privilege than themselves? But when Jackie looked into the woman's eyes, there didn't seem to be a trace of arrogance. If anything, she appeared to be rather excited about the event and the fact that she was meeting one of the possible hosts.

"Yes. It does sound like it would be a good start for me if I get the position," Jackie answered.

"It would be indeed, and I wish you all possible luck with your interview. Mr. Truman is a little odd, perhaps taking too much pride into his accomplishments and the history of the hotel, but he's also quite friendly and will do anything possible to make you feel welcome."

"I've heard a bit about him already," Jackie said with a grin. "It's hard to tell what to make of him, don't you think?"

Looking a little confused, the woman nodded. "Perhaps, but isn't saying that he's got an ambiguous personality going a little out of the way? I mean, I've met some people who've been manipulative before, but I don't believe you can really say that about Mr. Truman."

Realizing what she was probably thinking, Jackie said, "No, I didn't mean that you should be watching out for him. It's just as you told me: some of the other workers here think that he goes overboard when it comes to the promotion of the hotel. See what I mean?"

"Oh yes, miss," the woman responded, now looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I was once taught to always be on the lookout for those who might be suspicious, appearing to have secret motives and capable of harming you. Such lessons helped me a lot when I was young and very easily frightened by everything I saw."

"I see," Jackie said somewhat sympathetically, although she had no idea what this woman was talking about. "Well, I hope I'll be seeing you for the party. My name is Jackie, by the way."

"And I'm Victoria. It would be a pleasure to see you again as well." She then gave her another warm smile and started walking away, looking at Jackie somewhat curiously as she took her time approaching the exit of Northern Horizons.

Jackie waited until she was gone before opening the door to Michael Truman's office. Standing right next to her as the door opened was Truman himself. He was a tall man who looked to be around his late thirties with dark hair in a crewcut and aqua blue eyes, wearing a beige suit with a blue tie and black shoes. On his desk, there was a framed photo of a blonde woman in a sundress, an Apple computer, a large binder with many multicolored labels, a stack of post-it notes, a telephone, and three white mugs along with a plate of bite-size cakes and cookies. There was a stereo in the middle of the room playing, once again, the Eagles (this time, the song being played was "Already Gone).

"Good morning, Mrs. Tyler," Truman said in a voice which reminded Jackie of that of a salesman on the telly: loud, overconfident, and persuasive. Stretching out his large, slightly calloused hand in order to greet her, he went on. "We highly appreciate the interest which every applicant displays by wanting to be a part of the Northern Horizons family."

"Why, thank you, sir," Jackie said politely as she shook his hand. "I believe I have all the necessary experience to help make your hotel as special as it has always been."

"That's quite excellent, indeed," Truman replied with a nod of approval. Then, gesturing towards his desk, he said, "Please feel free to take a seat and help yourself to some coffee and refreshments as I review your resume and documents."

Jackie did as he offered. On her way to her seat, she smiled upon seeing some motivational quotes framed on the walls, the biggest being "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again", followed by "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Also posted was Van Gogh's "The Bedroom" and several paintings of buildings.

Truman turned off the music and then walked up to his desk in a rather sophisticated and balanced manner, keeping his back straight and smiling a little too much. Upon sitting down, Jackie handed him all the documents he'd requested of her yesterday. He seemed to only glance at each document for a couple of seconds before moving on to the next one, yet he still gave signs that he was taking good notice of her experiences and other information, nodding several times when he found something that must have impressed him, and jotting down notes when he found it necessary. Within only a while after he'd started, he stacked all the documents up beside his binder and gave her a nod of approval.

"Well, Mrs. Tyler, I must say that I'm very impressed with your past work experiences. You've managed to publish several written pieces for magazines and worked for around two years at a nursery school. For someone who didn't attend university, these are major accomplishments."

Jackie smiled. "It wasn't really anything major, though. I've only published three short stories for literary magazines which almost no one has heard of and one small article for a newspaper, and I didn't even get paid for the first one I did. At the nursery school, I was just an aid, which isn't the same as being a teacher."

"But you've still managed to do a whole lot more when you're only in your early twenties than I did when I was around your age and had completed my university degree," Truman insisted. "In those days, I was working as a waiter four nights a week in order to pay off my debts from university, while still having to make time to attend job interviews in the daytime. I would never have imagined myself as the owner of a successful hotel back then." He said that last part with the salesman voice once again, letting his audience know there were always obstacles in the way of obtaining that perfect product.

"It wasn't any easier for me either," Jackie tried to explain. "If you've actually looked at all my job experiences, I spend three years as a shop girl in two different stores. My husband passed away when my daughter Rose was just a baby, and I've always had to work really hard to support the both of us, without the help of any family or even friends at some points. Part of the reason why I submitted some of my writing for publishing was because I continued thinking there was still a chance that it could help me in the future. You of all people should know we always need to start small, is that right? My former boss always told me she thought it was a waste of time and that I should just remain satisfied with the work I could get, but I still went ahead with it. I got rejected ten times, but I still got at least those four pieces published. I always saw it as worth the extra work…"

"Mrs. Tyler, I could spend all day not just talking about my own failures as a businessman, but that of Richard Jameson, my predecessor. When he was given ownership of Northern Horizons in the mid-seventies, he told me that the place appeared to be literally falling apart, with the walls almost fully covered with cracks and paint which was peeling off, and some rooms were loaded with cockroaches and others bugs which appeared in the most random of moments. The most guests the hotel received on an average month was six, and there were often full months when no one would stop by for a visit at all. Any traces of Northern Horizon's glory days seemed to be buried in the forgotten past. But after dealing with a handful of misfortunes, including half of the staff quitting, something suing after suffering from an infection which was believed to be caused by insects in the rooms, and the horrific murder committed by one of the caretakers…"

 _A murder?_ Jackie wondered. _Could that have been what Allison talking about when she brought up the caretaker with twin daughters?_

"Jameson learned from his mistakes and decided to make as many changes as possible while only having a limited budget," Truman went on, seeming to get more enthusiastic as he went on. "He let go of those staff members he observed to be most incompetent and hired many new ones whom he felt went beyond the usual expectations of typical hotel workers, used money to do some advertising in local papers, using stories from Northern Horizons first twenty years as a luxurious hotel to persuade people to come visit, and did a lot of renovations within the building, even taking part in some of the manual tasks himself. One year later, people from all over the UK and others parts of the world took interest in Northern Horizons once again, and Jameson was able to achieve his goal at last."

"So what do you believe to be the point of all this?" Jackie asked.

Truman eyed her with some curiosity, seeming more amused than upset about her remark. Then, in what was possibly the most clichéd way possible, he declared, "Everyone and everything, no matter where they come from, will fall to the bottom at some point. Circumstances are always changing for people and businesses, and not always for the best. But it's those individuals who are not afraid of taking risks, who remain focused on achieving their goals even under the most excruciating of situations, who will lift themselves up once again and slowly make their way towards the top. You, Mrs. Tyler, are slowly climbing up that mountain, facing many obstacles on your way up, but you haven't let go yet. You're still moving up. I've made it closer to the top in the past couple of years, but still know that I have a couple more steps in the way. And the lovely Northern Horizons, who's had her ups and downs, remains with us every step of the way. How she'll be in the future depends on us."

Jackie had to cover her mouth with a napkin in order to keep herself from laughing. Michael Truman truly should have considered hosting a couple of motivational workshops at some point. Many who were down on their luck would probably love to hear such an amusing speech.

"How inspiring, Mr. Truman. Now can you please tell me whether you see me as a qualified candidate or not?" she finally said.

Truman laughed. "Glad to see we both have a sense of humor, Mrs. Tyler, but I think I already answered your question when I talked about your previous experiences. I've been holding interviews with other applicants for over a month now, and you're by far the most competent person I've spoken with so far."

"Are you serious?" Jackie asked, surprised.

"Of course I am," Truman answered as if it were obvious. "I've had three applicants who never even finished secondary school, including one with a bad police record and a past cocaine addiction, and another who did finish school, yet he had a very poorly written resume and could barely write a sentence. In comparison to them, you're a much more qualified candidate."

 _Does he have to be so critical about their lack of skills?_ Jackie thought. This certainly seemed to contradict his attitude on anyone willing to overcome the obstacles being able to achieve. "So, when will you make your final decision?"

"I could do it right now if you're willing to accept the position today," Truman replied. "Because honestly, Mrs. Tyler, there are only two other people I'm willing to consider for the job, and neither of them have anything close to your experiences. I've always wanted a caretaker who could go beyond the manual tasks required of the position and express some interest in both the history of the hotel and what is that visitors to London want out of their time spend in the hotel and our wonderful city."

Jackie knew that she really needed the job, but she felt that it seemed a little irresponsible of Truman to just offer her the job based on a review of her documents and not asking her questions as was done in most interviews. "Are you sure you didn't want to ask me anything regarding what I have to do in the position first?"

"Oh yes," Truman said, sounding as if he'd forgotten about doing this part before. "So, let's start with this: how comfortable would you be with handling security?"

"I'm highly observant, and I've gotten quite a lot of experience with looking after my daughter. You probably understand how parents always have to be on the lookout for their kids' safety," Jackie answered confidently.

"I don't have children of my own, but no one ever forgets how they were such a handful for dear old Mum and Dad," Truman said with approval. "Second question: are you able to do a lot of cleaning and handling of heavy objects?"

"I do quite a lot of that at home as well, so yes, I do believe I'm capable of doing that."

"That's as good an explanation as I need. Now, do you usually work well with others? Would you have the patience to handle tourists or difficult hotel guests?"

"Well, I've met a few visitors from foreign countries before, and I've always enjoyed getting to know them and helping them around when possible. If someone's being difficult, I could try talking with them to make things better, but I'd be lying if I said that I could handle them on my own without any issues."

"I don't think anybody could, Mrs. Tyler," Truman said understandably. "Fortunately, Northern Horizons has a good staff which can help you out if you ever run across any hard situations, including bad guests." Then, taking a look at his watch, he said, "And one more very important question?"

"Yes?" Jackie asked, wondering what it would be.

"How well would you be willing to handle remaining within the inside of the hotel for extended periods of time without being able to leave?"

"What do you mean?" Jackie asked, slightly confused by the question.

"After the murder of 1980, which was unfortunately committed by one of our own caretakers, Jameson started changing things around for caretakers. It used to be required that they remain confined to the hotel for long periods of time, sometimes without leaving at all, and Jameson was smart enough to see how this might have been a reason why this incident occurred. Of course, Mrs. Tyler, you'll be able to come and go as you please, but as tradition goes, you'll still be required to live in the hotel for three months. If you had to remain inside for longer than a day under due to certain circumstances, such as a snowstorm coming around, do you think you'd be able to handle it?"

"Oh dear," Jackie said hesitantly, feeling nervous about finding out that she'd been right about what she'd suspected to have occurred with the former caretaker. "I think I'd do my best to remain occupied in some way if I knew I couldn't go outside. There's always my writing, of course, and making sure I have plenty of books to read. In a place as big as this, I could spend time in the rec room with my daughter, or fixing up a meal in the kitchen. It's all a matter of keeping yourself busy, I believe. If anything, it's usually boredom which drives people crazy sometimes, especially during isolation."

"You've got that right for sure," Truman said, once again sounding impressed with her answer. "I'm glad that you'd be able to find a variety of ways to remain occupied. One of the advantages of hiring someone who's educated for these positions is that they're so good at keeping themselves from being bored. Another applicant told me that the only way he could remain satisfied in such as a situation would be if he would be able to watch all his programs in the telly. Can you imagine how long you could stay sane if only the television could keep you entertained?"

 _He's doing it again_ , Jackie thought, starting to feel annoyed. Out loud, she said rather curtly, "I believe, Mr. Truman, that anyone could find themselves getting bored when spending a long time indoors, regardless of how educated they are. In fact, I'm probably more like someone you'd consider typical for my level of education if I were to have so little to do."

"Now, Mrs. Tyler, let's not make too big a fuss over this," Mr. Truman demanded, putting his hand up as if Jackie had been yelling at him. "My harmless little remarks on social class aren't meant to be taken seriously. The point is that some people seem so resigned to their situation that they're practically dead inside, just doing the lowliest of activities to drown out their frequent boredom. You, however, seem to have this light shimmering within you that keeps you going through the toughest of times."

Then, looking at his watch again, he said, "Well, my time's running out. I've got a meeting to attend in a half hour to start planning the annual Northern Horizons Christmas party. That's why I had Victoria Harris, who's an English teacher at the Margaret Woodhouse Academy, over here before you came. Like you, she seems pretty sharp, if not a bit old-fashioned, but having someone like that to plan a party for the hotel is a great advantage. I'll be sending you an outline of the meeting. That is, of course, if you're willing to accept the position within the next couple of days, if not now."

"Give me a day to think about it, and I'll give you a call about my final decision tomorrow," Jackie responded.

"Excellent," Truman said cheerfully. Shaking her hand once again in farewell, he stated, "I'll be looking forward to working with you if you decide to join our team."

"And so will I," Jackie replied, hoping that perhaps this would be the case within a month.

 **So that's Michael Truman. He's not really a bad guy (at least not most of the time), but he can be hypocritical when expressing his views of how anyone can make it to the top if they're willing to try while still putting others down whom he sees as less motivated. Later on, we'll see more regarding his pride in the past when we learn some of the reasons behind having the creepy old stuff remaining in the hotel and how he responds to demands from Jackie and others to have things change.**

 **Also, those of you familiar enough with the classic series (yes, we're having another former companion joining in) should be able to guess who Victoria Harris is. I can tell everyone that she's going to have interesting post-time traveling life, but how she'll contribute to the plot is something we'll have to wait and see for a while.**

 **As always, thanks for reviewing, favoring, and following! Since the 20** **th** **chapter is coming up, I'll be sure to think of something special for it.**


	20. Chapter 20

**And here's the 20** **th** **chapter! I find it hard to believe that it's nearly been a year since I started this story, and that I was able to make it this far. A big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favored over the past year. I don't think I would have been able to get this far without your support, and I hope you'll all continue to enjoy the stories I write.**

It had been one of the worst nights Harry had in a long time. First, there had been all the disturbing thoughts which kept running through his mind whenever he tried getting some sleep. Then it was finding Christine awake, discovering she'd been kept awake by what appeared to be the sounds of the wind, and the horrific screaming which came out of the earplugs which Harry had owned for years. Afterwards, there had been finding a strange woman around the lobby when he went to buy some herbal tea, hearing the screams once again in his dreams when he finally managed to get some sleep, and finding out that Clara was gone early in the morning.

And now, Harry was trying to get around in his rented car, feeling as if he couldn't stay focused on the road for even a couple of seconds. Twice, he felt himself at the brink of dousing off, only to be roused due to the honking of horns and the loud swearing coming from the angry drivers. The only thing which seemed to keep him awake was the hot, vanilla flavored coffee which he'd bought at Northern Horizons before leaving. Living not that far from a popular coffee shop in Longview, Harry had grown as accustomed to what he once saw as a dry, bitter beverage as he'd been to tea throughout most of his life. Perhaps, he started thinking as he was driving, it was because it seemed to fill him up during those days when he couldn't eat a big breakfast when those awful digestion problems he'd had since after his travels with the Doctor started kicking in, or because of how good of a stimulant it was when he'd been up half the night working on reports. Or maybe, as his neighbor Michelle Collins said upon paying him a visit a month after moving into the condominium building, Americans really did make the beverage a lot better.

"Hey, move that damn car, you imbecile!" he heard yet another cranky driver yell out.

Harry sighed and tried to once again stay focused on driving. Thankfully, he didn't have a long way to go, as would have been the case if he'd to go all the way to UNIT HQ. However, once someone was part of UNIT, they always remained connected to it, even if they retired or went on to do other work. As a result, if a former or current member had something to report to the organization, it was permissible for them to contact former members if necessary, as long as that member was able to give the report to a current member. Harry had been able to call an assistant for former UNIT members yesterday, who said she would be able to have someone there for him in an office in London on Saturday morning. He was not told who it would be, although the assistant did say that it would be someone whom he'd worked alongside with.

He hoped it would be former Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. Not only was he the one who'd given him a position as medical officer, but for a while, he'd also helped him after he'd started getting inexplicably sick after he returned to Earth for good. Lethbridge Stewart had put him on sick leave after an incident where he fainted during a meeting in which his findings on ESP during his travels with Sarah were being reviewed and discussed. However, instead of allowing him to get better, Harry appeared to getting worse on account of the rest he was getting, to the point where he got terrible fevers and would not be able to eat anything without getting terrible stomach aches and vomiting. Upon visiting him and seeing how bad he was, the Brigadier said the strangest thing you could tell a sick person:

"You should probably go out more, Harry."

"Are you serious, Brigadier?" Harry had asked. "Just look at me right now. I feel sicker than I've ever been in my life, barely able to get out of bed on most days, and your advice for helping me get better is to go out more?"

The Brigadier laughed a little upon hearing this. "As strange as it may seem, Harry, your illness is actually getting worse because you're just lying around in bed all day. What's happening to you right now also happened to Jo Grant Jones upon returning to England after her honeymoon in the Amazon. She thought she would be all right staying at home after all the adventures she'd had over the past couple of years, but instead, she started getting the exact same illness as you now have. And what do you think happened later? Just by stepping out of the house and assisting her husband with some plant research in the countryside, she got better right away. No trips to the hospital or seeing any doctor was necessary."

"Wasn't she…"

"Yes. She traveled with the Doctor just as you did," the Brigadier explained. "If I have to guess what's been going on with you, the exposure to radiation and other chemicals which you had upon traveling through time and space only starts having an effect on you when you try to settle down for good. You're literally unable to be well without having an adventure of some kind, which makes your body more capable of fighting back against all those harmful chemicals which could make you seriously sick."

Harry nodded, starting to understand a little. "So what should I do now, Brigadier? Go back to work?"

"Better yet. The research committee which visited UNIT was very impressed with what you were able to find out on ESP. They want you to present your research at the University of West Berlin and I approved of this idea. I think the change in environment might actually do you a lot of good, Harry."

And that was how Harry ended up doing what he now did. If there was anyone whom he and many other former UNIT members would want to share any confidential information with, it would certainly be with former Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart.

He'd now approached the address which had been given to him over the phone. The location was supposed to be an office, but to Harry, the building where he was now parking looked more like a hardware store or some other small business. Stepping out of the car, he was glad to realize that he felt more alert than before. However, he was still slightly tired and hungry due to having no breakfast before leaving, and the bag containing his files felt heavier than usual, perhaps as a result of how he was feeling at the moment. Despite his efforts at trying to get around without any trouble, he soon found himself tripping on a small rock in the sidewalk, resulting in the bag falling to the floor and him bending over as he fell, and feeling a slight pain in his ankles as he landed beside the bag.

When Harry looked up, he noticed that a muscular woman in a grey coat had been watching him from the building's window, and upon seeing what happened to him, she immediately raced outside, as if she'd just witnessed a major emergency instead of simply seeing a man tripping on the sidewalk, making it to his side in what felt like only a couple of seconds.

"Are you okay, sir?" she asked, and Harry soon recognized her voice as that of the assistant who had spoken with him over the phone yesterday. Her voice seemed to have a trace of both a British and North American accent, while sounding steady and authortive.

"I am," he responded, allowing the woman to hold onto his arms as she helped him get up. "I've just been a little tired this morning, that's all."

"A little?" the woman said, looking as if he was speaking nonsense. "Just when I saw you getting out of the car, I could already tell that you looked as if you were in no shape to be driving. And believe me, I have plenty of experience when it comes to knowing when someone hasn't gotten any sleep. You really should be more careful about what you do when you're in that state."

Harry sighed. Seeing how this woman had been able to spot his foolishness within such a short amount of time was more than a little embarrassing. "Thanks for helping me, and sorry for all the trouble I put you through."

"Don't worry. I've handled cases twice more dangerous than this," the woman replied, sounding as if it were all nothing. Then, she finally asked, "Are you Dr. Harry Sullivan, by the way?"

"Yes, that's me," Harry answered. "And are you the assistant for former UNIT members?"

The woman nodded. "It's a temporary job for me, but I already feel as if I've made a career out of it. I'm Sergeant Lieutenant Benton."

Harry now looked confused. "Benton? But isn't that…"

She laughed upon hearing this. "Believe it or not, John Benton is actually my uncle, and so far, I've been almost completely following his footsteps. I joined the military when I got out of school, and I moved up rather quicker than most young solders, which is even more impressive considering I was one of only two women in my regiment. Of course, it helps a lot when you come from a military family and spend your childhood in three different countries, spending four years of my life in Vancouver, two in Illinois, and one in Australia, before returning to England at thirteen to finish secondary school."

"Yes, I can already tell how good you are," Harry said, impressed by this woman a lot more than he'd already been. "So, what do people usually call you?"

"Oh, you can just call me Laura," she responded with a smile. "I just love seeing the reactions I get from former UNIT members when I introduce myself as Sergeant Benton, especially since that's technically my military title. But when they get to know me, they become almost as fond of me as they are of Uncle John. As a matter of fact, I think you're the only former member which I hadn't met before, but I am aware of everything you've done since leaving UNIT, and I even read that book you wrote about ESP. It made me look forward to the day when I would finally meet you."

"And did I disappoint you already?"

"Not really. Despite how tough I act, I've never been someone who's turned off by clumsiness. Back in my regiment, I always preferred helping such people rather than ridiculing them, and they were always able to improve because of it."

"That's good to know," Harry said. "By the way, is your uncle here right now?"

"He's been waiting for you for two hours," Laura answered cheerfully. "He got really excited when he heard that you were coming over, since he hadn't seen you in three years. Best if we go inside right now, since I don't want to keep him waiting any longer." Then, she escorted Harry to the building, and upon opening the door, she shouted out, "Uncle John, Dr. Sullivan's here! He had some trouble getting here, but he's all right now."

It didn't take long for former Sargent Leutenant John Benton to come up to them. Looking quite well in civilian clothing, and with the same gentle yet strong demeanor which everyone had liked about him during his UNIT days, he put an arm around Harry and said, "Welcome back, Harry. It feels like a long time since I last saw you, and we've all missed you."

Harry smiled and embraced his old coworker and friend. "It's great to see you again too, John. For some reason, it didn't even occur to me that it would be you who I'd be meeting up."

Benton laughed. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you again until the next century before I got the message from Laura. People are always surprised to see how much time I've been putting into my car business, which actually leaves me with little free time with my family on some occasions. And with Laura's return from military duty several months ago, I never get a day off."

It was Harry took of his coat that Benton noticed how badly he was looking. Instead of the usual military uniforms and formal dress which Benton was used to seeing him wearing, he was wearing an old grey shirt which had traces of sweat around the back and the armpits and a pair of jeans that were wrinkled and appeared to be covered in dirt. But even more disturbing than this were the heavy circles that were of the same dark blue color as bruises he had around his eyes, which looked just as awful as the circles due to how they were bright red and puffy, like the eyes of a creature in a horror film.

"Oh my, Harry," he asked with concern. "What happened to you?"

Noticing how disturbed Benton was by his appearance, Harry tried to reassure him, saying, "I'm okay, John. I just had a bad night and wasn't able to sleep."

"Are you sure about that?" Benton asked, not sure if he was telling the full truth about his condition. "Could it not be that you're starting to get that time traveling sickness again? I heard from Lethbridge Stewart that you'd supposedly relapsed a few times…"

"That's not it, I promise you," Harry said once again. "I mean, there have been times when I get awfully dizzy or have an upset stomach after eating something that made me sick, but it's never been as bad as it was that first time. I rarely throw up anymore, and with some good medication, I'm usually well-off for weeks. It's just really hard to get a good night's sleep when you're staying far away from the place you now call home."

"Okay," Benton said with a nod. "I'll take that as a reasonable explanation. After all, I don't I've ever been able to sleep well when I've had to stay in hotels in the past." Then, changing the subject, he said, "Have you had breakfast yet, because Laura and I managed to get some food prepared before you arrived."

Harry looked relieved. "I can't think of anything I want more right now. All I had was coffee on my way here, so I'm starving."

"Could explain why he tripped while trying to get in here," Laura said jokingly, bringing up a tray with French toast, sausage, and scrambled eggs up to the table where Harry and Benton were now seated.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Laura," Benton told his niece, taking only a little food for himself, letting Harry have most of it. And for a while, they weren't able to do much talking because Harry couldn't ignore the food for even a second, and was eating a lot more quickly than he'd been able to do in such a long time. Upon finishing, he chuckled and said, "Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, John. I just can't recall the last time I've been so hungry."

"Don't worry so much, Harry. I understand," Benton replied with a laugh. "As a matter of fact, seeing that you have such a big appetite, I now know for sure that you're well. Because in one of the cases I heard…"

"What case?" Harry asked.

"Did you hear anything about what happened to Tegan Jovanka, who travelled with the Doctor not long after Sarah Jane left?"

"No. What happened?"

"She got the same illness as you did, but it was made a lot worse due to the fact that she became heavily depressed and traumatized after she returned to Australia for good. She would sometimes go for as long as three days without eating, and often refused to leave the house despite the constant urging of her family. After seven months of this, she ended up being hospitalized due to malnutrition, and had to get psychiatric treatment once that was done."

"That sounds awful. It probably wasn't made any easier when she had to hide all the time traveling stories," Harry responded.

"I know," Benton said. "The good news is that Tegan did recover, and she's now the head of a tourism company in Sydney which is becoming very successful. Probably one of the more difficult cases regarding the Doctor's assistants I've heard so far, but it's good to know that it usually ends well for everyone, don't you think so?"

"Can't argue with that."

"All right, now. Can you now tell me what news you have regarding the Doctor?" Benton said, finally getting around to addressing the main reason for their meeting.

And with that, Harry began telling him about how he'd started examining children ever since he'd moved to the United States (although he didn't specify that he was mainly a doctor for Christine, nor that he'd worked with only two girls while here in London) and how while coming here with Christine, they'd been able to find a woman who needed their help. He then explained how Jackie had been able to find them, his examination of Rose as well what he'd been able to find out about her through Jackie, the little information Rose had given him regarding how the Doctor had put himself through her mind, and what she'd done after revealing this.

"Hold on, Harry," Benton interrupted once Harry had gotten to the point of explaining Rose's telekinesis. "There's no existing records or cases of any human having telekinesis. Many of those you've worked with in the past have confirmed this. Are you sure that what she's able to do isn't due to having the Doctor inside of her?"

"John, I saw the look in her eyes as everything started falling. For a while, she was blinking, and as she did this was when it all started moving. I think she even knocked a glass over as we were talking, but I thought it was just an accident."

"Actually, Uncle John," Laura, who had been listening in and writing some things down, remarked, "There was at least one case of telekinesis recorded which had been rejected by the scientific community at the time. It appeared in a magazine called _Beyond Science_ in 1884 _,_ and it described an eight-year-old girl who managed to move her dolls around just by blinking."

"That magazine had little credibility, Laura," Benton said in a rather dismissive manner. "It was the equivalent of a gossip column for manners related to supernatural phenomena, and the few cases written there which were later confirmed to be true were often highly exaggerated and written without the permission of those were the subjects of the articles."

"But it's still worth looking into," Laura continued. "And besides, haven't you said before that any trait an alien has might have at least some chance of appearing in a human? If a planet containing telekinetic aliens was able to be discovered in the first place, then the existence of humans with similar abilities should at least be taken into consideration. The fact that someone as smart as you is so willing to dismiss this is just too bloody ridiculous."

"She has a point, John," Harry said, once again impressed by well Laura was able to act during this situation. "And especially since we already know that extrasensory perception exits, we can't ignore or dismiss certain abilities it might involve just because no one has found any previous evidence of its existence."

Benton now nodded in a somewhat reluctant manner. "All right, Harry and Laura. I'll try to think about that observation and see if there's some way I can help in looking further into it, but I can already tell you both that both UNIT and the ESP research committees are not going to believe it without concrete evidence."

 _And if they want concrete evidence, they're going to want to observe Rose Tyler for themselves_ , Harry thought anxiously. Not only did he know that Jackie would hate the very the very thought of her daughter becoming a lab rat, but that despite all of the efforts of the ESP research committees at trying to remain ethical, there were researchers willing to cross the lines at all costs in order to get the information they wanted. Harry had already done his best to keep Christine away from these kinds of "special projects", and he wondered whether Jackie would be capable of doing the same.

"Anyway," Benton continued, "I forgot to bring up the fact that UNIT has already discovered that the Doctor is now back on Earth."

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised by this new bit of information. "When was this discovered?"

"Five months ago, when Jo Grant Jones was visiting Paris with her family. She and Cliff were walking around an alley with several cardboard boxes around. Curious as to what might have been going in there, they walked further into it to make closer observations. When they were at the point at making it to the furthest corner of the alley, they became surrounded by a heavy cloud of smoke that they described as being highly suffocating at first, but becoming more harmless as it started fading away. And the more the smoke started diminishing, the more clearly they were able to notice the appearance of the TARDIS."

"So then what happened? Did they manage to see the Doctor at all?" Harry asked curiously.

"No," Benton answered bluntly. "As a matter of fact, Jo kept calling out for the Doctor as soon as she saw the TARDIS, but the more she did this, the more smoke started appearing once again, which started slowly diminishing their view of the TARDIS. When it disappeared for good, a woman dressed in rags came out of one of the cardboard boxes, telling them she knew exactly who they were, and that if they cared about their safety, they should leave her presence as soon as possible. When Jo and Cliff started asking her questions, she explained that they shouldn't worry about their friend, because he was being protected through the love of a child. When they asked her what this meant, she said she couldn't go further into it because it would ruin a well-kept secret which was keeping their friend safe at the moment, and demanded that they leave at once. By then, the smoke started appearing again, so the woman took Jo and Cliff by the arms and escorted them away herself."

The love of a child. This must have meant that the Doctor had been sent to Rose for a very specific reason, and perhaps this woman knew the exact reason why…

And then, before Harry could say anything in response to this story, there was a knocking on the door.

"I'll get it," Laura said, and Harry followed her.

Within a while, the person whom was standing before then was none other than the mysterious woman Harry had seen in the lobby in the middle of the night. The woman dressed in black and white who insisted that she didn't come from anywhere in particular, but that she was aware of who he was and what his concerns were.

"I spend a long time trying to look for you," the woman said to Harry. "And it pleases me that I've now been able to locate where you…"

"Before you go on with your ambiguous explanations, would you mind telling me whether or not you come to Northern Horizons to take Clara away?" Harry asked firmly, asking what had been troubling him since early that morning.

"Yes I did, and I managed to get her home right away," the woman started to explain. "Her parents were as curious about who I was as you were last night, but they were grateful that I was able to return their daughter safely nonetheless. I should expect you to feel the same way. Little Clara Oswald herself grew to become rather fond of me after a while as well. "

"So are you saying that not even her parents were aware of who you are?" Harry interrogated, now becoming even more suspicious than before. "What made you think that you were capable of bringing her back, and how did you even know who she was and where she lived in the first place?"

The woman appeared to scoff him. "Nice to see your appreciation, sir. Most people would be glad to see that a stranger was able to give vital help to a child."

"Miss, I'm part of the British Army, and Dr. Sullivan here is a formal naval sergeant" Laura declared, stepping into the tensional conversation. "If we suspect you to be a criminal of some kind, we could report you and have you face serious consequences for whatever it is you're doing."

"Just know this," the woman answered seriously. "I have something with me right now which could be very helpful with the information you're trying to obtain right now. And yes, I have been watching over things a couple of times, but without any negative intentions. As a matter of fact," and she said this looking directly at Harry, "I saved Jaqueline Tyler's life two months ago, under circumstances not that different from your own first meeting with her, and it was all as I was starting these investigations."

When she was done saying this, she handed Harry a piece of paper with strange writing on it. Afterwards, she nodded and said, "This is all I can do for now. I must depart soon, but I can already tell you this won't be the end of my mission, and that whatever it is I'm doing, it's something you'll thank me for much later."

And before Harry and Laura could question her again, she was gone, looking more as if she had vanished into thin air rather than just walked off.

Benton walked up to them when he'd noticed that their visitor was gone. "What was that all about?"

Laura shrugged. "I have no idea, Uncle John. She just said she'd had some association with Harry and that she managed to bring a child whom he'd been watching over home without his knowledge. Then she handed us some weird note before leaving."

"May I look at it?" Benton demanded, already knowing they were dealing with a difficult situation.

"Here it is," Harry responded, handing the folded, stained paper to him. "But I doubt if you'll able to read it. It's written in some language that's unrecognizable."

Benton unfolded the note and scrutinized it carefully for a while. Suddenly, a look of recognition shot through his face, and he looked up at Harry and Laura, "You're not going to believe this, but this is actually Gallifreyan."

Both Harry and Laura looked shocked. "But how were you able to recognize it?" Harry asked.

"The Doctor was able to provide us with a sample of Gallifreyan handwriting during his first couple of weeks at UNIT," Benton explained, showing them the note so they could have a closer look. "I'm not able to read the majority of it, but I perfectly understand the last four words. They translate into 'by a time lady'."

Laura frowned. "So, are you trying to say that the woman we're dealing with isn't even human?"

"I believe that's very likely the situation," Benton confirmed.

…

After about two hours of going over the situation, Benton, Laura, and Harry were able to come up with the following plan for action:

The information Harry had given regarding the Doctor, as well as that of the mysterious woman, were going to be reported to UNIT Headquarters as soon as possible, and the Gallifreyan note was going to be handed over in order to be fully translated and examined. The case of whether Rose Tyler was truly telekinetic or not had to be handled in some way, whether by having a current UNIT member come over to her home to observe her or someone from the UK's main ESP research committee, despite some of Harry's objections to this. After this was looked into, they would have to find a method to handle the situation with the Doctor, which would require even more examinations of her, and from there, they would like into some way of getting him back into his physical form.

Despite not being very comfortable with the plan John and Laura Benton proposed, Harry eventually agreed to it because he felt that he could at least trust the two of them if they were to provide assistance during the examinations of Rose. It helped that because Laura was currently studying history, she would be a guest at the London Private Education Committee for Progress' upcoming Christmas meeting and party at Northern Horizons, where she would give an overview of the organization's history based on archives, so perhaps she would be able to set up a meeting around that time. As a matter of fact, they might even consider having Sarah Jane help them, especially since they now knew that she had become a mentor of sorts for Rose.

"Thank you both very much for taking the time to listen to what I was able to find out. It's been overwhelming enough for me already, so I think this meeting was able to help a lot," Harry told Benton and Laura as he was preparing to leave.

"No problem. And with me to talk some sense into Uncle John, we were probably able to achieve twice as much," Laura said confidently, shaking Harry's hand in a friendly manner.

"So, I guess this means goodbye once again, Harry," Benton said cheerfully, but also somewhat sadly, as he then shook hands with him. "It was wonderful meeting with you one more time, and know that if you need our help again, you'll always free to give us a ring. Even though we're thousands of miles away, help is never that far around the corner."

"That's great, John. I'll be sure to take that into consideration if I'm ever in any kind of alien or supernatural related trouble." And then, calling out one last goodbye, he left the Benton's company and drove off once again, now feeling more alert than he'd been all day.

 **So, part of the mystery surrounding the woman who keeps showing up around crucial moments is slowly starting to be revealed. Do any of you have theories regarding who it might be based off the information from both this and other chapters? Let me know in your reviews!**

 **Next, we're back to Rose, Sarah Jane, and John Smith. The discovery of another psychic girl is going to strongly effect Sarah Jane's future role in the story, especially when she finds out who Christine has been with all along, and John Smith/the Doctor is going to finally be able to do something which he was incapable of doing for two years.**


	21. Chapter 21

For a couple of seconds after hearing the Doctor's voice, Rose, Sarah Jane, and Christine remained completely still, so much so that for a while, it seemed to Maureen and Heather that the three of them were somehow paralyzed.

"What do you think's going on, Maureen?" Heather asked anxiously, finally breaking the silence which had filled the dining room.

"I'm not sure," Maureen responded, looking around to see if Eric or their parents were around to help out, and upon not seeing any of them show up, she said, "Go get Mum and Dad, Heather. I think something strange must be going on with Sarah and…"

Suddenly, the two girls saw what had to be the most unusual phenomenon they'd ever seen in their lives. As Rose started to blink and slowly open her mouth to speak, what appeared to be clouds of sparkling dust started floating out of Rose's eyes and mouth, and flew up to the celling. A manic cry of "I'm free!" was soon heard, followed by a wild laughter which sounded as if it came from a man who'd just discovered he won the lottery. As the dust came close towards the girls, Heather shrieked while Maureen ran off as fast as she could to find their parents.

However, as soon as the dust approached Heather, it seemed to leap away from her, returning to the celling once again. At that moment, Sarah looked up and appeared to have gained an understanding of the situation which Heather could not even begin to understand, since she developed that serious expression which always came about when she was trying to explain some of her more complex journalism assignments to Maureen and Heather, and she said aloud, "Doctor? Is that you?"

"Doctor? Sarah, what are you talking about?" Heather asked in confusion.

"Heather, I think it's best if you leave as soon as possible. This isn't a safe situation, and there's no way I could easily explain it to you in a manner which you could understand," Sarah told her.

But Heather didn't get the chance to this, since Maureen had returned with their parents and Eric.

"Sarah, what's going on?" Violet demanded, but upon noticing the dust, a look of recognition seemed to dawn in her face, and she gave Tom an anxious look which he immediately understood.

"It's happening again for sure, Violet," he stated, almost forgetting the fact that their children were with them, and had no idea what he was referring to.

"What do you mean, Dad?" Eric asked, calling him back to the full extent of the situation.

Trying to explain to him at this moment was out of the question. How could Tom or Violet even try to explain the fact that some creatures, incapable of taking on a physical form, transformed themselves into energy once they left the people or objects which they'd taken possession of? That only certain people, including Sarah, were capable of seeing their physical form when they were in such a state? And how they'd encountered such creatures twice, the first time in university when a classmate who turned out some sort of duplicated copy of a dead girl had disintegrated before Violet's eyes, and the other time when masses of people in Northern Ireland were attacked by extraterrestrials under the disguise of soldiers?

Before the two of them could think of a proper answer, the mass of energy flew in the direction of Christine, and the manic laughter from before now became a shattering scream, as it started entering her through her wide-opened mouth and eyes. Her struggle to remain conscious was obvious through her quick breathing and the trembling of her arms and legs, and by the time all the energy went through her, she could handle it no longer, and collapsed onto the floor.

Rose, who appeared to be in some deep pain or exhaustion, now started crying hysterically. As before, Heather came up to look after her, while Tom and Violet, along with Eric, rushed over to Christine's side, getting prepared to examine her.

"Tom, Violet, now's not the time," Sarah called out, reminding themselves of something they'd somehow forgotten after all their supernatural encounters years before. "Give it about five minutes, and then we'll see if there's something we can do about this."

They both nodded, but it didn't long for the questions to start, with Violet being the first to ask: "Sarah, did you know something was going on with Rose all along?"

"I did," Sarah Jane admitted. "I became aware that Rose was psychic from the moment I first saw her; a nearly perfect connection of the mind, as I used to say. At first, I thought that was the only thing going on with her, but then I found out that she'd become… possessed, I guess you can say, by that alien I told you about who so closely resembled a human."

"I see," Tom said, nodding, already knowing a little about the alien Sarah called "The Doctor" due to what she'd told them as an explanation after what appeared to be a year of disappearance (to that day, neither he nor Violet fully understood for how long she'd really been gone). "But shouldn't the situation have been more severe than what we've been seeing? And isn't it possible that this alien responsible for that incident where Rose passed out in school and caused a blackout?"

"I don't know, Tom," Sarah Jane responded. "You both know perfectly well that I had such episodes myself, and being possessed by an alien was never the reason for it. Although with all the physical and mental pressure of both ESP and possession, it wouldn't be hard to believe if both factors had been responsible for the incident. Perhaps she…"

She was interrupted by the sight of Christine sitting up, looking a little pale but otherwise not as bad as they expected a possessed person to be. As a matter of fact, it could almost be said that she looked better than she'd been earlier in the morning, since the dark circles surrounding her eyes were now gone, and there appeared to be an energetic look coming through her eyes, as if she'd just witnessed something very fascinating and unbelievable.

However, it was only upon seeing the anxious faces of those around her that the look of fascination on Christine's face quickly shifted into one of confusion and worry. "What happened to me?" she managed to ask. "Why are you all looking so worried?"

"Never mind us, love. How are you doing?" Violet answered, putting an arm around Christine's shoulder. Sarah Jane now followed Eric and Maureen, who'd noticed what was going on with Christine, into the kitchen to get water and other emergency supplies, and Tom stayed with Violet, not sure what to expect.

"I'm actually feeling okay. For a moment, I felt as if I'd fallen asleep, and then I started seeing someone talking to me. It was a man who was sort of funny-looking and weird, but when he first started talking, he seemed really worried, and he kept apologizing to me for getting stuck inside of me; that's how he explained what happened to me. I didn't understand what he meant, so I kept asking…"

She was interrupted when Tom placed his hand around her forehead, examining her in the same manner as he'd done alongside his mother when they'd been looking after the possessed during the incident in Northern Ireland. Turning to Violet, he said, "There's no sign of fever or any other symptom of illness as far as I can tell."

"That's strange," Violet said. "Nearly every possessed person we've seen showed some sign of illness, or at least weakness."

"Possessed?" Christine asked, now getting more anxious than before. "Are you trying to say that there's some demon inside me?"

"Don't try to trigger any anxiety," Sarah Jane warned, coming in with a glass of water. Eric had a first aid kit, while Maureen was holding the bottle of ESR, which she kept examining curiously. "If you do so, it could worsen the state she's in, and seeing how she is now, we should do the best we can to help her remain as she is."

"No worries," Tom said, and he patted Christine in the back. "It may not be too much to worry about, Christine. For what it seems right now, all we have to do is keep you calm and you might turn out okay after all."

"So there is no demon?" Christine wanted to know.

"What's this about demons? Looks like you've still got a lot of explaining to do, Dad," Eric said.

"It's certainly not an ordinary scenario, Eric. If you had been here from the start, you'd be twice as startled as you are now," Maureen stated.

"It's not a demon, Christine," Violet explained. "But this man you saw probably isn't human. From what Sarah has told us, and what we've seen for ourselves, he's capable of changing form when it's necessary. If it means having to get inside a human in order to stay alive, then such creatures have to do it, even if it's sometimes against their will."

She almost expected Christine to look confused over what seemed like too much information to take in at once, but instead, she nodded as easily as if she were explaining the rules to a game. "I think I get it. John Smith, that's the name of the man I saw, explained it to me a little. But for some reason, he kept bringing up Rose, and the woman who's with us right now too, I think." Then, turning to look at Sarah Jane, who was now with Rose and Heather, she asked, "Excuse me, but is your name Sarah Jane Smith?"

"Yes, it is," Sarah Jane responded, and although she already knew the answer, she asked, "How did you know that?"

"The man I saw told me so, and if he's right about that, then I guess everything else he's told me is true too," Christine said.

"Do you know what's happening, Sarah Jane?" Rose asked, her voice slightly quivering.

"I don't any of us really knows, Rose," Heather said, thinking that Rose wasn't understanding the situation.

Sarah Jane, who felt that she knew more than she was willing to admit, said, "I think I am, Rose, but if we had to explain it fully to all the others, I don't know if…"

"John Smith has left my mind, and he's now inside Christine's!" Rose finally managed to say, feeling that she had to say something sooner or later, even if Sarah Jane already knew it. She managed to startle Heather, who looked inquisitively at Sarah Jane and then her parents, and Maureen and Eric, who'd been listening in to the conversations from before, looked just as flabbergasted as before.

"Oh boy, we're certainly in for a wild ride this weekend, aren't we, Maureen?" Eric asked. "At least if it had been demons, as unlikely as that would have been, we could have just gotten holy water from the church and had splashed it on her to get rid of them. If it's an alien like Sarah is claiming, we're probably going to have to get in contact with one of those secret agencies like the ones in the movies, or perhaps even summon a UFO over to our house. That is, if this isn't all just nonsense, perhaps one of our bloody neighbors pulling some nasty trick on us. I never did believe in aliens that much, as a matter of fact."

"You can't remain too skeptical, Eric," Maureen said, starting one of her philosophical speeches. "We live in such a big world where we're not likely to encounter even half of all the strange stuff it has hidden around in our lifetimes. Many of us will keep questioning everything we see, and rightly so, but to simply dismiss the existence of certain concepts closes off the opportunity to make certain discoveries."

At this point, Tom and Violet returned to the kitchen, both to finish a little of the cleaning they'd started earlier, and to talk amongst themselves about what was going on, leaving their kids to either have their own conversations on it or to turn to Sarah for an explanation.

"Blimey," Eric scoffed in response to what Maureen said. "I'm sure half of those philosophers you study so much would have laughed in your face. Some things just don't exist period, like Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy."

"We don't really know," Maureen went on. "The way I see it, Mum and Dad have always been aware of something which they haven't told us about. I could always tell by these secretive looks they always had on their faces back when they'd read us fairy tales or fantasy books when we were little. Didn't you ever notice them at all?"

Eric shrugged. "How should I know? That was a long time ago, and for all I know, perhaps they just got too hocked up on the stories themselves. It's not that different from how they are during their concerts, which Dad always says is like a form of escape to them."

Sarah Jane smiled at them. "You're not that wrong actually, Maureen. Your parents always were aware of the existence of things which they'd never told you about." Then, hesitating a little before going on, she continued with her revelation, saying, "As a matter of fact, their first experiences with this came about when they met me. You see, I was never just an ordinary person. I have always been capable of seeing things that others can't, of having this ability to sense what will happen next, or when something goes wrong. Things similar to what you saw right now are something which I've been witnessing for years. Ever since I was a child, as matter of fact."

Maureen and Eric looked instantly shocked, finding it difficult to believe what they'd just heard. Eric wondered whether the dust had made her go crazy, while Maureen thought back more intensely on her parent's bedtime story expressions, realizing that she'd noticed something similar in how Sarah would look when describing her own stories. Heather, however, eyed her curiously, indicating that she wanted to know more. "So are you saying that you weren't just clever?" she asked. "That there was something unusual about you all along?"

"Yes, Heather. That's exactly what I'm saying," Sarah Jane declared.

"And the flying dust isn't strange to you at all? You're aware of what it's supposed to be?"

"I have seen something like it before, but if you want to know all the details, you're going to be in for a long story."

Then, looking at Rose, who wasn't able to believe that Sarah Jane had admitted something so major at a moment like this, Heather asked, "Is Rose supposed to be like you as well? Was something like this the reason why she fainted at school during the blackout?"

"I am like her, Heather," Rose explained. "We both have something called ESP."

"So that's what this is all about?" Eric asked. "You had me a little confused with that explanation of yours, Sarah, but at least Rose was able to clarify it somewhat."

"Come on, Eric," Maureen said with a sigh. "Just let them go on with what they have to say."

"Sorry about that," Eric said. "This is all just too much to take in right now. Feel free to go on whenever you'd like."

"I understand, Eric. It's a lot for me as well, and I've been experiencing all this for forty-one years now," Sarah said, trying to take matters a little more lightly for once.

However, she didn't get the chance to go on, because Christine was now calling out to them: "Sarah Jane! Rose! Please come over right now!"

Sarah Jane and Rose both walked up to Christine, who was now seated on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her.

"What's going on, Christine?" Rose asked.

"It's John Smith," Christine asked. "He wants to talk to both of you right now because he thinks there's some way he can get back inside of Rose."

"And what would that be?" Sarah Jane asked.

In response to that, she heard an urgent sounding Scottish voice calling out to them:

 _Rose? Sarah Jane? Can you both here me? If you can, call out to me._

 _Yes we can_ , the two of them responded at the same time.

 _Good,_ John Smith answered more cheerfully. _I was almost worried we'd get lost in telepathic communication, but somehow, it seems to be working, even though someone else is temporarily serving as my host._

 _So, Doctor, you do realize that this is the first time we're speaking in about eleven years, right?_ Sarah Jane asked.

 _I can't forget something as important as that quite easily, Sarah. So, it turns out we were able to meet again after all, although not exactly in the matter which either of us had in mind, isn't it?_

 _You can say that again, Doctor,_ Sarah Jane responded. _But perhaps all the traveling really did expand both our minds more than we expected._

 _I think that might explain this situation perfectly well, Sarah. Thanks to the Time Lords' failed assassination attempt, I got to do a lot more of that after you left, and it really did help expand my mind, and that of my assistants in return._ Then, calling out to Rose, he said, _So Rose, do you miss me already? Do you feel any differently now that I'm gone?_

 _I'm talking to you right now, John Smith, so I don't really miss you too much,_ Rose replied, provoking internal laughter from both John Smith and Sarah Jane. _But I don't think I feel different. Everything feels the same way as it did when you were inside me._

 _Must be all that energy that was left over. Well, things are a little different here. Christine's mind has been expanded more than yours has in some ways, Rose, mainly due to her being older and more experienced than you are. However, because she doesn't have some of the powers as you do, some areas are closed off. The combination of both of these things makes the situation of me being stuck in her mind a lot more dangerous. I can only stay here for a short period of time, or else I'll run the risk of making Christine become insane, or lose some of her mental capacity._

 _But why did it happen, John Smith?_ Rose asked worriedly.

 _Yes, Doctor. Try to explain it in the best way you can,_ Sarah Jane demanded.

 _The presence of three psychics around the same place provoked the release of a lot of my energy. And because there was another child there, I was not able to remain in place for less than a minute. Nina, the woman who placed me in Rose's mind, told me that I could be transferred over to the mind of another psychic child if they were to come in contact with both my host and at least one other psychic. However, the older the child is, the less chance I'd have of remaining in place without causing serious damage to the child's mind. The same situation would occur with a child who's less powerful than my host. And if both of these factors were present, I would have to call on both psychics present to help me get back to my original host as soon as possible, because the consequences of remaining in the child would be twice as bad as it would be with just that one factor._

 _So what should we do, Doctor?_ Sarah Jane asked.

 _Allow me to give the directions, and listen as closely as possible. This is one situation in which you really must do exactly as you're told,_ John Smith said rather firmly, making sure he had the full attention of them both.

 **Next, Rose and Sarah Jane discover what steps they must take next, and Sarah Jane discovers the full extend of who Christine is.**


	22. Chapter 22

_So what do you want us to do, John Smith?_ Rose asked. She was starting to feel Christine squeezing her hand tightly, and it was warm to the point where it was shaking violently as sweat was running through it. John Smith was going to have to give instructions soon, because the effects of being trapped in Christine's mind were just starting to become noticeable.

 _First, do you see if Maureen still has the ESR bottle around, Sarah?_ The Doctor started.

 _Yes, Doctor. Do you want me to give some of it to Christine?_ Sarah Jane asked.

 _Give her three spoonfuls of it using a small spoon, no more, no less. Be sure to also have some water or juice at hand, as well as a small snack. You must give it to Christine a while after I leave her body, because if you don't, she could start to develop migraines, and her blood pressure will start to lower significantly._

 _I understand, Doctor,_ Sarah Jane responded. _Is there anything else we should do?_

 _All right, Rose, now this will be your role. Can I get your full attention?_

 _You have it, John Smith,_ Rose replied.

 _I want you to keep holding onto Christine's hand, and you also need to make sure she remains focused on me throughout the whole time. If you have to repeat my name several times, or give her a list of random facts about me, then do it, but she must remain thinking about me. Do you understand what I'm asking?_

 _I do, John Smith. I'm not going to let you or Christine down,_ Rose responded determinedly.

 _That's a good girl, Rose. And of course, I'm sure that I'll able to relay on you just as much as I did during our time together, Sarah Jane._

 _And you're not going to be one bit disappointed,_ Sarah Jane promised.

 _That's great to know, but both of you must hold off on the promises and get into action now. Neither I nor Christine can wait much longer,_ the Doctor demanded.

Rose remained where she was, and Sarah Jane walked up to where the three Marsh siblings were now gathered together, trying to make sense of what they'd just seen and heard.

"Maureen, may I have the green bottle you were holding earlier?" Sarah Jane asked her.

Maureen picked up the bottle of ESR from where it'd been left at the coffee table. "Here you go, Sarah," she said, and then, looking at how Rose and Christine were still huddled together, she asked, "What is it for? Is it some kind of medicine for Christine?"

"Yes; it's supposed to be a medicine for psychics to take when their powers become overwhelming. This creature will only be able to get out of Christine's body if I give it to her right now."

"I see," Maureen replied. "Is there anything we can do to help her?"

"Yes. Bring up the glass of water again, as well as a bag of crisps or a pastry package. She's going to need to eat and drink something when the alien leaves her."

"Got it," Maureen replied. Turning to her siblings, she then asked, "Eric, Heather, would you like to help out?"

"You don't have to ask twice, Maureen. This may all be crazy, but someone has to help make things right again," Eric said.

"We'll be back soon, Sarah," Heather reassured, and she and Eric went to the kitchen to get what had been asked for.

Meanwhile, Rose was still holding Christine's hand. The two of them were now feeling overwhelmingly hot, and Christine was moaning from a headache which was starting to develop.

 _Did you hear what John Smith asked of me, Christine,_ Rose asked, staring to breathe more heavily due to the uncomfortable warmth which was spreading itself more heavily.

 _I heard perfectly well, Rose,_ Christine replied, running her hand through her aching forehead, yet doing her best not to think too much about the pain. _Don't you want to get started on the John Smith talk before we forget about it?_

 _Okay,_ Rose said, now feeling sweat running down her back. _Are you ready?_

 _Go ahead._

 _So,_ she began, _John Smith is actually from a planet called Gallifrey. He says that three hundred years ago, an astronomer spotted the planet from the top of a castle in Italy, but when the Time Lords, that's the name of the aliens which John Smith is a part of, found out about it through some special powers they had, they sent in these rays from outer space to strike him while he was up in the castle. He was able to live, but his memories of spotting Gallifrey were wiped forever._

 _Sounds creepy,_ Christine responded. Although she still felt as warm as ever, she could feel her headache starting to lessen a little. She understood that this trick was already working, even though John Smith was still inside her. _Go on, Rose._

 _No one on the planet Gallifrey is really born a Time Lord,_ Rose continued, sensing how Christine was getting better as she was feeling worse, but thinking that she must be able to handle it to help her friend. _For that, they have to go to an academy where they receive a lot of lessons which will help them take some hard test that will help their teachers decide if they can be Time Lords or not. Even though John Smith is really smart, he didn't always try hard enough during his lessons. He sometimes liked going into a place that is kind of like the desert here on Earth and perform experiments which he'd learned about from reading books and papers that were in the academy's library but which his teachers wouldn't let him do in class. He was caught a couple of times by his teachers, and one time, one of his experiment went so wrong that he was almost taken out of the academy._

 _Sounds like he was a big rebel,_ Christine replied with astonishment, starting to put her free hand around Rose's shoulder as a sign that she knew how she was starting to feel weak and still wanted to help despite her own fragility at the moment. _So when did John Smith come to Earth for the first time? Did he come along with the other Time Lords or by himself?_

 _He actually got the idea to come here along with his granddaughter Susan as a reward to her for having become a Time Lady with one of the best performances on the Time Lord test. He made a request from the Time Lords in charge to get permission to use one of their machines for traveling. Although they had trust in Susan, they still denied his request because John Smith had caused a lot of trouble in Gallifrey in the past, and they only wanted to send the best Time Lords in Gallifrey to Earth. But because John Smith never liked having to listen to them in the past, he still wanted to find a way to give Susan what he wanted, so one day, when the Time Lords in charge were away on a special meeting, he and Susan snuck up to the place where…_

 _Girls, I'm back,_ they heard Sarah Jane calling out to them. She was holding the ESR bottle, which she'd given to the Marshes five years ago after she'd surprisingly found the medicine on sale in a drug store in Nice, France while working on a story there. However, she was aware that ESR could be found for sale in some European countries (of which the UK was not included for some reason) after the psychic research committee for which Harry Sullivan worked for had approved of the medicine and both she and Harry were given credit for its' discovery, so she had expected to find it somewhere Even though she had over a hundred bottles of the medicine at home, she was perfectly aware that not only could she unexpectedly run out of it, but that she might meet up with another psychic out there who would need it. And of course, since she visited the Marshes more than anyone else, she knew they would need some of it in hand in case she had one of her episodes when she came over to visit.

Upon coming to Christine, she said telepathically, _All right, Christine, listen closely now. When I give you this medicine, the taste is rather unusual, like lime soda mixed with something metallic. You are…_

 _I know already, Sarah Jane. I'm not supposed to swallow it right away, but instead hold it in my mouth for a while and then take one small sip at a time. That's supposed to help the medicine have its full effect on me, and after I finish it, I'll have to drink some water or juice in the same way as I did the medicine, very slowly and in small sips._

 _How did you know this? Did you read my mind, or…_

 _I've had ESR before. My doctor has given it to me…_

 _Save the explanations for later, dear. You have to take the medicine now._

 _Okay,_ and then Christine opened her mouth widely, and Sarah Jane placed a spoonful of the frizzy green liquid in her mouth. Just as she'd done several times before, Christine held the medicine in her mouth for a couple of seconds, and then started slowly swallowing it in small sips. Since she'd gotten used to the taste over time, the slightly metallic flavor didn't bother her, although it did leave a strange taste in her mouth after she'd finished all the medicine.

When all the medicine had gone down, she looked up at Sarah Jane and Rose and said, _I'm done. What should I…_

Christine was not able to go on, because once again, she went completely still, with her mouth remaining slightly open. When five seconds had gone by, the clouds of energy appeared once again, flying up twice as fast as they had the first time. This time, however, no laughter could be heard from John Smith. Instead, a rather wild scream roared through the house instead, giving Sarah Jane the chills and managing to attract the attention of the whole Marsh family, who all came running up to the three of them in a panic. Knowing what was soon to come, Rose appeared to have frozen due to her own fear, and the fact that she was heavily sweating was more obvious from the bright red color visible on her face and arms. When the clouds of energy came up to her, the Marshes and Sarah Jane almost expected her to start screaming, but instead, her mouth fell open without a sound to be heard excepting the whoosh of the energy as it flew into her lips and pupils. Once it was all inside of her, the heat which had risen in Rose's body before now turned into a chill as she started shivering, but instead of falling over, she stayed still for about a minute. When it was all over, Rose's eyes opened up just as she could feel the heavy beating of her heart, and she looked at all of her friends. Maureen was giving Christine a drink from bottled water as Violet held on to her shoulder, making sure she was feeling all right. Sarah Jane, Tom, Eric, and Heather were coming over to check on her.

But somehow, this seemed less important to her at the moment. She kept feeling the strong urge to hear something from John Smith, even if it was just a simple yes or no to her questions.

 _John Smith,_ she started calling out softly. _John Smith, are you okay?_

No answer.

 _John Smith?_ She asked much more urgently. _Did something go wrong when you were brought back to me? Please say something if you're okay._

She still heard nothing, resulting in the increase of her anxiety and the urge to burst into tears slowly building up. Something had to have gone wrong if he couldn't respond to her, didn't it?

 _John Smith, answer now!_ She then cried out in frustration, the tears now starting to slowly run down her eyes.

"Rose, what's wrong?" she heard Sarah Jane asking.

"It looks like she's crying and calling out really softly to someone," Heather observed, feeling just as upset as Sarah was about seeing her little friend looking so sad.

"Do you think she could be suffering from the side effects of having this alien back inside her?" Tom asked. He remembered perfectly well how those poor people left sprawling on the streets of Northern Ireland would cry for hours after the aliens had transferred themselves over to their bodies upon pointing guns in the direction of their foreheads. Yet, strangely enough, he couldn't recall a single victim who'd been younger than sixteen. As his mother, who'd been a writer, journalist, and longtime advocate for peace and fair treatment of women, girls, and the poor, had said when their work was done: "Those creatures must have had a heart after all if they were unwilling to possess a child." Could the same really be said of this friend of Sarah's if he'd been willing to transfer himself to someone as young and harmless as Rose?

"Why don't we just go up and get a good look at her before we jump to conclusions?" Eric suggested.

"Of course, Eric," Sarah Jane answered. "We have to do this at some point, of course."

And then, Christine practically raced up to them, asked very urgently, "How did it go, Sarah Jane? Was John Smith able to make his way through Rose?"

Almost immediately, she heard Rose's internal, desperate cries: _Please, John Smith! I hate it when you do this! Why can't you just answer me back right whenever I say something to you?_ Her sobs could be heard more clearly now, serving as a clear sign to the others that something hadn't gone right.

"John Smith was able to make his way back to Rose," Sarah Jane explained to her. "But from what we see right now, perhaps he's not able to communicate with her. That's what I think might be going wrong with her."

"And it is," Christine said, confirming her beliefs on what was going on to be correct. "She keeps trying to call back to John Smith, but he hasn't answered her so far."

"Oh dear," Sarah Jane said. "This really is going badly." Then, turning her attention to Rose, she said telepathically: _Rose, calm down. John Smith has probably gone dormant for a while, which might be why he's not responding to you. You've said that this has happened before, so just try to remain patient and let him answer you back whenever he's ready to, just like you've done before._

 _But John Smith was able to talk to Christine right away. Why would he be acting differently when he's back inside me, then?_ Rose asked urgently.

 _Being back inside of you must have had a different effect on him because you've been his original host and he's been used to being attached to your mind for so long that being transferred back to you would cause some kind of change to what he was once able to do. Does that make sense to you?_

 _I think so._

 _So now, just try to remain calm and let John Smith take his time. We're all very worried about you, Rose, so at least try to adjust to this situation for now._

 _Okay, Sarah Jane,_ Rose responded. _I'll try._ After saying this, she walked up to where all her friends were waiting for her, and she immediately putted her arms around Sarah Jane, wanting to seek comfort after all the fear and pain she'd had to go through.

"I know this is hard for you, dear, but we've all got your back," Sarah Jane assured her. "Don't think that just because you can't always speak with the Doctor that you'll be left without friends."

"Of course, Rose," Violet said, stroking her hair. "We all love you here, perhaps a lot more than this alien does."

Only Christine appeared to be just as anguished as Rose. "I'm sorry, Rose," she said, getting a hold of her hand once again. "If I hadn't come here, this wouldn't have happened at all. Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed with Harry…"

"Harry?" Sarah Jane interrupted her, startled to see her bringing up the name of someone whom she hadn't been able to see in years. "Is that the name of the doctor you've been seeing?"

"Yeah," Christine responded, confused as to why Sarah Jane was reacting like this. "He's a doctor who actually knows a lot about ESP because of all this research he's done for different ESP groups. He even wrote a book on it a couple of years ago."

Yes, this sounded exactly like the Harry she'd known. There were very few ESP doctors in the world, and as silly as it sounded, she figured that not a lot of them could share the same first name.

"What is this doctor's last name, dear?" she asked, now feeling the strong urge to know for sure who he was.

And just as she'd been thinking all along, Christine responded by saying, "Sullivan. Harold Brandon Sullivan is his full name."

Yes, it was him. He'd actually told her what his full name was during one of those long conversations they'd have during the times they were left to themselves in either the TARDIS or those moments in their adventures when everything slowed down a little and they could relax for at least a few minutes (which occurred very rarely). And to think that now, in this encounter with a psychic girl who was quickly becoming a friend to Rose, she was hearing about him once again was just unbelievable. She'd had connections of the mind with two psychic girls in a series of two months, and both of them had met the two individuals with whom she'd had the most amazing journey of her life. As her grandmother used to say, there weren't that many coincidences in our lives. There were many events and chance encounters which, for some reason or another, were actually meant to occur at a certain set period in time, and Sarah Jane honestly believed that this meeting with both Rose and Christine must be one of those events her grandmother had been talking about.

"Christine, I've actually met this doctor of yours before. As a matter of fact, I actually traveled alongside both him and John Smith at one point," Sarah Jane finally told her.

It was as she said this that Christine started to understand something she'd been sensing for months without understanding it was. Looking really closely at Sarah Jane, she now realized that she was the same woman whom she'd been seeing in those visions she'd had of what was running through Harry's mind. The one who was always finding a chance to take charge and be able to save the day, sometimes even doing a lot more than Harry did. She also understood that the other man who'd often accompanied them, who acted very eccentrically even though he always seemed to know what was going on and how they should act accordingly, could only be John Smith, something which Christine had no difficulty understanding at all after her experiences today. And as she'd guessed before, all those visions had been part of an important journey Harry had; one which had been a major point of change in his life, and knowing that those who'd accompanied Harry were an alien and a psychic woman made it easier to understand why this had been so.

She had no idea however, despite everything that had just happened, that Sarah Jane was reading her mind as she was thinking about this, so Christine was surprised when she heard her asking, "Had you been able to have visions about me and John Smith before, Christine?"

"I did, Sarah Jane, but I didn't understand who you and John Smith were supposed to be. And I didn't have visions in the same manner as Rose those, because my powers seem to only involve being able to read minds. When I have visions like this, I was during one of those times when I was able to look deep into Harry's mind."

"And when are you able to do this?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Usually when Harry is trying to have some time to himself, either thinking really deeply about something or working on his research papers. A couple of times, it was when he was sleeping, usually taking an afternoon nap or when I've come to stay at his place during the nights…"

"Hold on. You've seen him _sleep_ before?" Sarah Jane asked, surprised by the information she was figuring out. "What exactly does he do when he's with you if he finds the time to sleep while you're with him?"

Christine chuckled upon seeing how astonished Sarah Jane sounded. "Sorry. I should have explained it better. Harry's actually both my doctor _and_ my homeschool teacher. He started teaching me after he found out that I was having problems with bullies and keeping my powers under control while I was at school, and since he had a lot of extra time on his hands, he figured he could spend extra time with me."

"Oh, now I understand. I always thought that Harry would be good with kids, by the way. He always seemed to have this patience which I think many people, especially men, seem to lack sometimes. In all the time I spend with him, he never seemed to get angry or hold any feelings of contempt towards anyone, not even the villains we faced or John Smith during those times when he would make fun him. He always seemed to like it when things were in order, and I think some of the unusual incidents going on around us frustrated him sometimes, but he didn't let his frustration bring out the worse in him, as sometimes happened with John Smith."

"I see what you mean," Christine said with a smile. "Harry does try to get me to follow all these dumb rules of his back home, and he has more than a couple for himself as well, but he never really gets mad when I don't do what he says. Like you said, he's too nice to ever really get mad at people. He's also really funny sometimes without meaning to be, and he'll give me this weird look when he sees me laughing at something silly he's said or done which he didn't understand was funny himself."

Sarah Jane laughed. "Oh yes. I've seen that all before myself as well. It's really difficult not to like someone like that, don't you think, Christine?"

"Yeah," Christine said.

"I've actually met him as well," Rose said. "I had an appointment with him yesterday, and it was him that told my mummy about how I'm psychic."

If all of the other information had been too much for Sarah Jane, then this topped all of it off for sure. "Okay, this is really too much to take in right now, girls. It's obvious that Harry's been really busy these days, but there's still some things I don't understand. To start with, what have you and Harry been doing in London, Christine?"

"He came here to turn in the research he'd completed over the last two years to some organization he was once part of…"

"UNIT?"

"Yeah, I think that was it. I came along with him because I'd never been to London before and Harry figured that taking me to another country would give the chance to learn twice as much as just sitting around in the table and having lessons every day."

"And how did you meet Rose?"

"Harry started examining other people after we came across a girl named Clara who had some strange condition which he wasn't able to understand at all, and then we found Jackie Tyler as we were driving around one day. Harry gave her his card, and she called him back because bad things kept going on with Rose. They came over to our hotel to have her examined, and that's how we were all able to find out about her powers."

"And how was it that you found out?"

"Dr. Sullivan started to examine me, and just as he found out about John Smith being inside of me, he wanted me to tell him as much about John Smith as I could. That's probably what made me let my powers out, and it was almost the same as what happened to me at school."

"Did you see what happened, Christine?" Sarah Jane asked, astonished to hear about all that had been happening to Rose without her knowledge, and wondering why she hadn't been able to sense all this herself.

"Not when it started," Christine explained. "But then a hotel worker heard what was happening and called us up to come up and see. I was able to see how Rose is telekinetic when she blinked and let something fall."

Sarah Jane shock her head, wondering if she could handle going on with the subject any longer. "So you're saying that both you and Harry are aware of how strong Rose really is? That all that you saw today was…"

And, just when she was wondering how further she could go on with that, she saw Tom walking up to them and saying, "Rose, your mum just called and said she'll be here to pick you and Christine up in a couple of minutes."

Rose looked up at them with what seemed to be a look of relief on her face. "Good, because I think I need to get home now after all that stuff that just happened. I mean, I like seeing you all again, but…"

"We understand, Rose," Tom said. "As much as we like having you here with us, we all think it's best for you to go back after what you've been through."

"So, I guess this is goodbye for me," Christine remarked, looking rather sadly at all these people she'd gotten to know.

"Were you supposed to be leaving back to Florida soon, Christine?" Violet asked her.

"Yeah. In about two days, as a matter of fact," Christine replied.

"That's too bad. We really liked having you here with us," Tom said regretfully.

"I know, but perhaps she doesn't have to leave us empty handed," Violet said, giving her husband a wink.

"Violet, what are you thinking?" Tom asked. "Are you going to give her…?"

"Just a little keepsake, of course. There's only so much you can get at the gift stores," and she ran to get what she had in mind.

"Sarah Jane?" Christine asked once she'd gone.

"What is it, dear?"

"Should I tell Harry that I saw you today?"

"I don't think so. From you told me, it seems that Harry has a lot to deal with as you're both leaving London. As much as I'd like to see him again after all these years, I wouldn't want to make things more difficult for him than it already is. If you want to, you could tell him once some time has passed and he's been able to finish whatever it is he's had to do now, and perhaps I'll even take the time to travel to Florida if I have nothing planned for the time. But for now, just don't say anything about seeing me. You could tell Harry about John Smith, of course, but just leave me out of it. Is that okay?"

"I guess so," Christine said, not sure how she could keep something like this a secret from Harry.

"And here you have it," Violet said, handing her a small poster from 1972 advertising a concert for the Vagabonds and Ultraviolet, in which artists like the Rolling Stones, Sweet, and Alice Cooper also performed. Christine liked the large bubble-shaped letters which were surrounded by the poster's colorful psychedelic background.

"This is so cool! Is there any way I can find your music?"

"It should be played in some the oldies stations back home," Violet answered. "We managed to have an addition two hits there which landed us on both the Billboard Top 10 and _American Bandstand._ I'm sure you'll find us somewhere."

"All right. Thanks a lot for this, and I liked getting to visit you all before going back home. I hope I can come back to London someday. I like it here even if it is cloudy all the time."

"Good luck to you, love," Violet said, giving her a hug. "And if you do come back some day, be sure to pay us a visit. Our doors are always open to visitors."

"Bye, Christine," Tom said, hugging her as well. "I hope our next visit won't bring along too much trouble from aliens."

"I think we all wish that would happen, but from what it seems, there's probably all these other adventures you've all had which were not aware of yet," Maureen said matter-of-factly.

"Got that right for sure, Maureen," Eric said.

"And we'll not be able to predict when the next one will come as you, Rose, and Sarah Jane can, so come along with them if you ever come see us again," Heather added in.

Christine laughed. "I just hope it's not like this again."

"Come along now, Christine and Rose. Your ride is here," Sarah Jane said.

"Are you ready to go, Rose?" Christine asked.

"I am," Rose said, and after Sarah Jane wished them well, the two girls walked out hand-in-hand, preparing to face whatever might be next in store for them."

...

Back in her room, as she was going through a sheet of addition facts her teacher had given her in class, Rose was finally able to hear back from John Smith. She'd gotten all the way to six plus five, and had stopped to take a sip of milk from her favorite pink mug, when she heard a rather stern voice with a prim accent ringing through her ears:

 _Six plus six is twelve, six plus seven is thirteen, six plus eight is fourteen. Shall I go on, Miss Tyler, and I should I give you some time for your young mind to process all this?_

The faux voice didn't fool Rose for even a minute, and she called out, _John Smith! You're back again!_

 _What is that? I thought I'd been successfully transferred back to your mind four hours ago? Was there some unexpected delay in the process which I didn't take in, Rose, or did I fly around on a brief holiday through London this whole time?_

Rose laughed. _No, silly. You've been in my mind the whole time, but I think you went dormant for a while, like you've told me before._

John Smith chuckled. _So you really are a clever girl, listening to every little word I tell you. Yes, I did have a small slumber when I was back inside you. Leaving Christine's mind left me, pardon my language, exhausted as hell, and I wasn't able to utter a word after the transition had been successfully completed. I could feel how scared you were, but no matter how much I tried to speak, I felt a severe drain of energy which forced me to go dormant in order to gain it all back again._

 _I see, John Smith. But are you well now?_

 _I'm feeling better than I've been in years. As a matter of fact, I think being inside a mind as complex as Christine's might have resulted in me gaining higher energy levels which I haven't had at all, not even when I was inside Nina. And as a result, I think I'm going to be able to communicate with you a lot more than I could before._

 _That's great!_ Rose responded excitedly. _That means I'll always be able to call out to you when I need you!_

 _And I might have a lot more control over when I do choose to pop up again, so you won't have to worry so much about me talking to you at the wrong time and having people thinking you're crazy. But, of course, I can't say that I know for certain what will go on, so we'll just have to wait and see._

 _Okay,_ Rose said with a nod. _But can you tell me something else, John Smith?_

 _What is it?_

 _How come I never heard you talking to Christine?_

 _For the exact same reasons I had for having to leave her mind as quickly as I did: her mind was so much more developed than yours that the only time I was able to communicate with her was when she was unconscious. However, I was able to communicate with both you and Sarah Jane a lot more easily than I could have been able to do with two psychics while in your mind._

 _Does that mean when I get older, I might not be able to talk to you as much if you were to stay inside me?_ Rose asked worriedly.

 _I honestly don't know, Rose. From what I was able to detect through Christine's mind, she had about the same level of intellect as you now have when she was your age, and with the homeschooling from Harry, she keeps getting better. In a way, it was like looking at a future version of yourself. But of course, only time will be able to tell what will happen to me if I'm not able to get back into my physical form at some point._

 _I see,_ Rose responded somewhat sadly.

 _But for now, let's get back to that maths homework of yours. If there was one thing I could sense that Christine still needs to improve upon, it is her mathematical skills. Consider yourself lucky to have me to help you in that aspect of your learning, and we'll see if I'll make you into such a whiz as I am by the time I'm able to leave you._

 _..._

Meanwhile, back at Northern Horizons, Christine had to stay in the rec room for an hour to wait for Harry to arrive back. Sandy Morris, who took on weekend shifts at the shop, had stopped by during her break to give her a box of cookies and a juice box, and had then turned on the television to watch _Red Dwarf,_ saying very little to her other than to ask her how she was doing and if she liked the program. Christine ignored the television program for the most part, thinking that it seemed really weird, and had turned her attention to a copy of _Alice Through the Looking Glass_ which had been left at the table. She was halfway through _Adventures in Wonderland_ , but she had always been one of those readers who couldn't resist looking ahead, so she skimmed through much of the first three chapters during the time she'd had to wait.

And when Harry finally showed up in the room, since he always knew he could find her there, Christine called out "Doc!" and put her arms around him, realizing how much she'd been wanting to see him again.

Harry laughed. "Christine, you're acting as if I'd been gone for weeks instead just a couple of hours." But he hugged her back, feeling just as relieved to be back with her as she was about being with him, although neither were yet aware of how they'd been both been through difficult visits.

"So what are you thinking of doing now, Harry?" Christine asked.

"You're the mind reader. You tell me," Harry responded.

Christine paused for a moment, trying to process his thoughts. Then she said, "After what's been quite a tough day, you want to have at least one moment of carefree fun with me, so you want to go buy me something at one of the malls and do some last sight seeing before we leave."

"And as usual, you're correct, old girl," Harry responded with a grin. "And was that all you managed to grasp? Did you see any details on why I had a tough day?"

"Not really," Christine answered honestly.

"Okay," Harry said, and then started thinking things over for a while, trying to decide what the best course of action would. Finally, he grabbed Christine's hand and said, "So, I've managed to come up with a deal. Are you ready to hear it?"

"Go ahead, Doc."

"We'll still have our little break over at the mall, and I'll buy you at least two things which you'd like. I'm also going to talk to you a little about what happened to me today while you tell me a little about yours. But when we do, I don't want you trying to look into my mind anymore than you can help it to get any extra details. There's some things which I just can't tell you about right now, and I think you'll be keeping at least one secret from me as well. That being said, we both respect each other's privacy, and we can try to end this day with just a little bit of peace and predictability. Is that a deal?"

Christine nodded, thinking that Harry must have picked up at least a bit of her skills during their time together. "Deal, Harry."

"Right-o. So, do you want to get going right now?"

"Sure. Would you want some lunch first."

"That's actually where I wanted to go first. I know this place that's still around downtown that serves some of the best fast food in London. When you go there, I don't think you'll ever want to have McDonald's again."

"Well, if you say it's so good, let's get going," Christine answered cheerfully.

And as they left the rec room, they had little idea that Sandy had been hidden behind the door, listening to everything they were saying. With a smirk on her face, she whispered to herself, "Of course they've had a bad day. If they've listened to some of the complaints from Northern Horizons over the years, they'd realize they're not alone. Truman will need to hear this for sure, and we'll see if he thinks there's anything to complain about."

 **Next, we'll finally be starting in on Jackie and Rose's time spend at Northern Horizons. They'll continue encountering many friends and foes, with the roles of people like Truman, Allison, and Sandy being explored much further, and the hauntings will be getting much more intense as time goes on.**


	23. Chapter 23

**December 1992**

 _Last thing I remember, I was running for the door_

 _I had to find the passage back to the place I was before_

 _Relax, said the postman_

 _We are programmed to receive_

 _You can check out any time you like_

 _But you can never leave_

Eagles, "Hotel California"

The day when Jackie and Rose Tyler were supposed to pack up their bags and move into Northern Horizons arrived quicker than they expected. Jackie had only gone so far as to call her landlord to let him know she was going to be staying someplace else for three months and saving up a little money for what she expected to be the many expenses they might have to make while staying there. Ella started coming over again to help Jackie decide on what to bring along and what to leave behind. Truman had told her multiple times that she wouldn't need anything because the hotel included every item she would ever want during her time there. "You'll even find tons of clothes and toys for your little girl. We have some dating back to the turn of the century, which I'm sure Rose will find extravagantly beautiful. All the other little girls who've stayed here had thought so," he'd once told her over the phone, putting a lot of emphasis on that salesman's voice as he said that last part.

Yet, Jackie felt that she should bring along as much as she wanted to, because she had the strange feeling that she was leaving her old life behind and transitioning into a new one. Just being inside her flat kept bringing back dark memories of being sprawled either on her bed or the coach, mumbling drunkenly to no one in particular, of Ella yelling at her to pull herself together and Rose giving her that sad and frightened expression which she could never stop thinking about these days. But worst of all was thinking about her ignorance on what was going on with her daughter, how she'd been detecting those thoughts and emotions which Jackie couldn't identify herself and looking into a future which she desperately hoped wouldn't become a reality, but which somehow had.

So when Jackie and Rose stepped out of their flat for the last time, after Ella had put the box containing Jackie's books and notebooks down and closed the door in a hurry, there was little sense of sadness at all. If anything, there was this deep relief running through both of them as they thought that perhaps the worst period of their lives had just finished on that day, that whatever unpredictability awaited them at Northern Horizons, they were both so much stronger, and could therefore face any struggles without all the difficulties from before.

The fact that they might be heading towards something worse never crossed their minds.

...

The first person to greet them into Northern Horizons was none other than Sandy Jackson, who'd overseen the departure of Christine Green and Harry Sullivan during their last Saturday at the hotel. She plastered a forced smile upon seeing them, but kept thinking that no sooner had she been able to get rid of one little bugger (even though Christine had been gone for three weeks now) than she was forced to once again deal with another. And was that an additional person coming along with them? The sight of Ella, with her short auburn hair and dark, punk-style jacket, was so distracting that the first thing she said to them was, "I thought there were only two of you coming to stay here."

"Actually, Ella is only here to help us bring in our things," Jackie explained, putting down her suitcase and allowing Rose and Ella to step forward.

"But I don't understand. Truman clearly said that you didn't need to bring anything," Sandy responded, doing her best to remain sounding polite, but with traces of her frustration becoming more apparent. She could already feel the little girl's curious glance aimed towards her direction, and decided it was best to remain silent on her concerns until she saw Truman later. He always knew what to do when something unexpected occurred.

"We just couldn't leave too much behind, especially since we don't know where we'll be headed once our time here is up," Jackie said, not suspecting the girl's actual thoughts at all.

But Rose was clearly able to hear her as she thought with a strange sense of satisfaction: _A lot of the past caretakers have thought this as well. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that most of them felt deeply lost once they left._ She could immediately tell that she wasn't going to like Sandy at all, and that she seemed just as creepy, if not more so, than the broken china dolls which could be found in the waiting area.

Ella seemed to be thinking the same, because she then said, looking directly at Sandy, "I'm sure they can bring as much along with them as possible. Are you supposed to be charge here, anyway?"

"Well," Sandy responded, struggling to come up with a good explanation of what she did. "I have been told by Truman that I should…"

"Actually, Sandy, you're trying to take up _my_ job," interrupted a high-pitched, yet slightly cross, voice from behind Jackie. When the four of them turned around to see who it was, they saw a tall blonde girl with her hair pulled into a ponytail and wearing a hot pink suit, standing in front of them, giving off hints that she was the one under some position of authority.

"Who are you?" Jackie asked.

The girl looked at her with an overly friendly smile. "I'm Elaine Davidson, the official escort here at Northern Horizons. I am the one in charge of leading people into their rooms and giving them an idea of what a great choice they've made in choosing this hotel as their place to stay."

"Well, we're not actually guests," Jackie tried to explain. "I'm actually…"

"You're the new caretaker, of course," Elaine finished off, her smile still in place. "Truman let us all know yesterday that you were coming in today, so we were all expecting you." Then, shooting an accusing glance towards Sandy, she said, "Of course, some of us are more aware than others of our place here as employees. As far as I'm concerned, Sandy, you should be off at the shop running your shift. It's not your job to be assisting the guests."

"I wasn't trying to assist them," Sandy answered in an annoyed tone. "I was reminding them of what Truman told them about not needing luggage."

"But they don't need you reminding them of what they must have heard a thousand times already," Elaine said.

"Whatever. I'll be getting off right now." And as she walked off, Rose heard her thinking, _For once, I'm glad that Elaine has butted in. I have a feeling I'm not going to stand those people for even a second, especially not with that little brat around. At least Elaine adores kids and can keep her out of my way._

Ella looked at Rose and whispered in her ear, "The two of them sound like annoying little clones to me, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Rose whispered back. As a matter of fact, both of them were of the same height, hair color (with both of them in ponytails) and eye color (which was aqua blue), and had on very similar suits, although Sandy's was a dark red color, and her hair was a little shorter than Elaine's.

"Excuse me, miss, did you have something you wanted to tell me?" Elaine asked, that same look of hers from before now aimed towards Ella.

"No. It was nothing," Ella answered, trying to sound natural. "I was just telling Rose a joke."

"Rose? Is that the name of this precious little girl?" And Elaine turned to Rose with her smile appearing to get much wider, and started stroking her hair and admiring her as if she were a small puppy. "Oh, Rose!" she coaxed. "Aren't you the most adorable thing ever? I have a feeling we're both going to become best friends, don't you think so?"

"Maybe," Rose answered, but the attention she was getting from her only made her feel annoyed and uncomfortable.

"She's six years old. I don't think she's seeking your undivided attention," Ella said matter-of-factly.

"Of course not, since you've got your mummy and nanny for that, don't you, love?" Elaine said much too sweetly to Rose. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a red lolly. "Here's a little treat for you right now. I always make sure I have enough in my desk to give to all you sweet little kids who come to stay."

Ella rolled her eyes, while Rose simply responded by saying, "Thank you. And actually, Ella is supposed to be my babysitter, not my nanny." As annoying as Elaine was acting around her, she didn't really detect anything bad about her yet. At the very least, she wasn't as bad as Sandy.

"And now, Mrs. Tyler, let me bring you three over to the room you'll be staying in for the next three months," Elaine said cheerfully, preparing to escort them over.

"Of course," Jackie said politely. "We can use all the help we can get."

As soon as she said this, Elaine grabbed one of the two small bags Ella was holding and started leading the way across the hotel, giving them short descriptions of several rooms which Jackie and Rose were already familiar with. Ella only briefly listened to her (and barely took notice of some of the creepier things which lingered around the hotel), focusing mainly on how well the other two were doing. She hadn't found a single bottle of liquor in the week she'd been helping them pack in their flat, but there were brief moments when she noticed the old anxiety from before popping up again, usually when Jackie or Rose was alone and would let out a small sigh or look somewhat sadly through the window. But for the most part, they seemed somewhat happy about leaving. "Not everyone gets the chance to start over in the same manner as we'll be able to, Ella," Jackie had told her two days before, and she really hoped that they were heading towards a good path now.

After a while, Jackie asked Elaine, "If you're the hotel's official escort, then why have I not seen you until now?"

Elaine turned towards her, with a strange expression on her face. "It's a long story, Mrs. Tyler, but the main reason is because my older cousin Sharon, who also happens to be Mr. Truman's girlfriend, has just suffered through a terrible tragedy, and she's needed all the support from me that she could get."

"How awful," Jackie said sympathetically, despite the fact that Elaine did sound a little overly melodramatic, as if she were rehearsing a part in a play rather than talking about something which happened to her personally. "Would you mind explaining what happened?"

Elaine now had a sad and slightly distant expression in her eyes. "Sharon lost her younger sister, Alice, in a car accident right here in London this September. Her husband, with whom she'd been married for only three months, had come along with her and died as well. They were both so young, being close to my age and with so much plans for the future, including traveling around Europe and having three kids of their own."

 _Car accident? And in September as well?_ Jackie thought with slight horror. Was it in any way possible that this was the same couple who'd been killed in the car accident she'd been in? _No,_ she tried to assure herself. _It couldn't be. There are dozens of car accidents in the country every day. Elaine's cousin and her husband could have been anyone amongst the many victims that are shown on the news every night. Perhaps…_

And then, she noticed how Rose was staring at her with that concerned look which she'd always noticed before yet never fully understood. For the first time since finding out her daughter was psychic, Jackie became aware that her daughter could be detecting what she was thinking at any moment. There was no way in which she could attempt to hide even the most personal of her emotions without the possibility of Rose being able to find out about them, no way in which she'd ever be able to keep secrets from her again.

Yet, she didn't say anything, and continued on sucking on her lolly and acting as if nothing was wrong.

"How has your cousin been able to cope so far?" Ella asked with concern.

"It's been devastating for her," Elaine responded. "There are often whole weeks where she refuses to go to work and just remains in her room all day. She's not able to sleep at night, claiming that whenever she closes her eyes, she sees Alice in the exact state she was when she died, with a broken neck and scratches all over her body, always screaming in terror. Truman worries about her as much as I do, and so far, he's one of the only people with whom she's comfortable driving alongside with, since she seems to have developed a phobia of driving after the incident. He's promised her all sorts of things for Christmas, including a trip to the Caribbean for New Year's, but the thought of traveling, or even leaving London, never fails to deeply disturb her. She always tells that perhaps by staying at home more often, she might not face the same fate as Alice did."

"Goodness," Jackie said. "Your poor cousin."

"And you want to know something else?"

"What could it be?" Ella asked.

"When she was alive, Alice seemed to hate everything about Northern Horizons. She would tell me that just setting foot here would give her the chills, and that she believed nothing in here had changed at all since Truman attempted to restore the place."

"I don't know about that," Jackie responded. "I mean, there is a lot here which seems too old to be stored around for guests to see, and I've seen several things that are falling apart. Haven't you ever thought that perhaps Truman really does need to get a little extra reparation around here sometime?"

Upon saying this, a look of indignation shot across Elaine's face. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with this place. Mr. Truman had already set aside a ton of money to get this place looking as modern as possible back in the eighties, and he has no time to be worrying about a couple cracks on the wall or one disfigured doll on display at the lobby. That was all Alice would point out whenever she came here, that and some of the crimes which occurred here in the past, as if every other old place in London always had a very secure history."

"Hold it there," Ella called out, not happy to be seeing how Elaine was taking Jackie's comments too seriously. "Jackie was just pointing out some slight flaws she's been seeing, that's no reason to get all rallied up against her. If you ask me, this place could use some fixing up in some places. Everybody does this at some point."

Elaine glared. "You're lucky Sandy isn't here. If she were, she would probably have said something to Truman about how it's just your first day here and already you're complaining about the state of the hotel. The only person whom he's able to tolerate any form of criticism from is that old shop girl Allison, and that's only because he knows she would never be able to find a job anywhere else with her nasty drinking habits and constant stubbornness. Everyone else that has even dared say anything bad about Northern Horizons usually gets a serious talking to, and if it becomes a habit, then they're dismissed immediately."

"This Truman chap sounds like a fascist," Ella mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Elaine asked sharply.

"Never mind, it's nothing," Ella said with a sigh.

"But Elaine, didn't it bother you how much your cousin worried about the hotel?" Rose asked, sounding a little scared after noticing Elaine's aggressive attitude.

Almost in the blink of an eye, all the anger on Elaine's face soon banished, and she gave Rose a sweet smile as she once again stroked her hair. "Listen sweetie, there's nothing wrong with this place, and it had nothing to do with what happened to her. My cousin was just a superstitious person, meaning that she thought bad things could happen just because a few things had gone wrong here in the past. Mr. Truman and her sister tried to be reasonable with her to make her less scared of coming here, but she never listened, and went on saying there was something bad about Northern Horizons. It's never good to think like this once you grow up, Rose, because believing in stuff that's not real for too long can make you go bonkers, and nobody wants that to happen to someone they love. But if you always think reasonably and let go of your belief in superstitions and monsters, you'll always be fine. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rose said, but was thinking what this girl would possibly think if she discovered about her powers. Would she still act as easily as she did now about her dead cousin's fears and simply try to talk herself out of what she was seeing so she wouldn't have to bother Mr. Truman about it? In fact, would it bother her at all if meant it wouldn't affect the hotel in some way? If anything, it seemed as if Northern Horizons and Mr. Truman were more important to her than her cousin had ever been.

"And does Sharon have any similar fears regarding Northern Horizons?" Jackie asked, noticing the attitude Elaine seemed to have on the manner as well.

Elaine smiled at her, hoping, Rose noticed, to push aside all the hard feelings she'd had towards what Jackie was saying before. "No, absolutely not. As a matter of fact, before Alice died, Sharon was always happy when she was here, especially when she got to do something special with Truman. From what I've seen, the more people grow to like Truman, the more they like Northern Horizons. Funny, isn't it?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Ella remarked, wondering if there was something wrong with Elaine, if all the others employees at this hotel were as freaky as she and Sandy were.

Elaine ignored what she said for once, and looked at her silver watch. "Oh, my. We're running out of time after all this unnecessary talk. You're lucky your room's on the first floor, though, so we're just a short distance from where you're supposed to be headed. Truman will be meeting with you shortly, and even says that someone from that teacher's group that will be at the Christmas party will be with him as well, so you'll continue to have company for a while. I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here, by the way, Mrs. Tyler. The majority of Northern Horizons' employees do so, so much so that they're willing to stay longer that Truman usually needs them. Doesn't that sound good to you?"

"Perhaps it does," Jackie said, and hoped that she was right about it.

 **Next, Jackie meets up with Truman once again, and due to what she learned through Elaine, she starts becoming aware of things she'd overlooked before regarding both him and the hotel itself. Rose will also start facing her own troubles, and may not be able to seek help from either Elaine or Ella. And we'll see how long it will take for Rose and Jackie to find out that Alice Davidson was the victim of the car accident in which Jackie was in, and what consequences this might bring about.**


	24. Chapter 24

"And here we are," Elaine said in the same annoyingly cheerful voice from before. "Room 112, the exact same room every caretaker since 1981 has been using. If I were you, Mrs. Tyler, I'd be very excited about this. For a while, you'll feel as if you own this place just because of the very fact that you have your own room in which you'll be staying for several months."

"Gosh, it's just a room," Ella said with a sigh, putting down two of Jackie's bags on the brown carpeted floor. "She acts as if we were staying in the Buckingham Place or someplace of major significance instead of just a third rate hotel."

But Rose could not help noticing the room more closely than the others. In comparison to the room in which Harry, Christine, and Clara had stayed in, this room did look as if it were part of a castle. The walls were the color velvet, as were the curtains, bedsheets, and some of the furniture. To the left side of the room, there was a large canopy bed which looked as if it had been set up in the room nearly a hundred years before, and to the right was a small children's bed in which the wood was painted white, something which appealed to Rose as much as the velvet-colored furniture, since she always felt that brown was such a dull color.

Next to the door was a large wardrobe which looked straight out of _The_ _Chronicles of Narnia_ , made out of dark-colored wood and taking up half of the left side of the room. When Jackie opened it up, they found six overcoats and six children's coats which were already hung up. At the bottom, there were also three pairs of both boots and children's tennis shoes set up not that far from the coats, and upon going further into the wardrobe, there were dozens of dresses of various sizes which were hung up all over the place.

"Doesn't this all look so beautiful, Rose?" Elaine asked in the same high pitched voice she'd used when speaking to her earlier. "Truman must have set this all up ahead of time as a present for you and your mummy, which is certainly very sweet of him."

"Yeah, or perhaps all this clothes was already in there ahead of time. Hasn't that crossed your mind at any point?" Ella said bluntly.

"That couldn't have been," Elaine said, automatically dismissing the idea. "The last caretaker was a single man who was so macho that he wouldn't even do his own cleaning because he thought it was 'ladies' work'. If he had found a wardrobe full of girly things, he would have thrown it all over the floor in disgust and have forced Sandy or me to pick it all up."

"Sounds like someone I would never want to put up with," Jackie said. She remembered how Pete, during one of those days in which he'd spend all day working on one of his most ambitious projects (a gadget which ended up nearly blowing up due to being overheated when he demonstrated it at an inventor's workshop) had felt so guilty about forcing her to take up all the spring cleaning that the next day, he took on everything from cooking all three meals to dusting up every last bit of furniture. It was one of those times in which Jackie had been so grateful to have him by her side.

"None of us could, and especially not Truman," Elaine remarked. "It was another case of someone being so difficult that Truman wondered how anyone else would put up working with him, and because of that, the man remained with us all three months. You can only imagine how irritated we all were once spring arrived."

Rose ignored all this, her attention focused on the ragged doll set up alongside a light-furred teddy bear in what was now to be her bed. She couldn't help thinking that it looked a lot like her, with long blond hair tied up into two braids with red ribbons, a pink calico dress with a white apron (Rose herself was wearing pink overalls and a white blouse), and Mary Janes (which seemed a little unusual when paired with the rest of the clearly Victorian-era outfit. But what most caught Rose's attention was the eyes, which had been made with black buttons with five small holes at the center of each. Instead of being at a close distance, one eye was about an inch higher than the other, giving the doll a very awkward and somewhat scary appearance that was giving Rose goosebumps just from staring at it…

Then, there came a loud banging from the door.

"Jackie, is that you in there?" a demanding yet enthusiastic voice called out, which Jackie and Elaine immediately recognized as Truman's.

"I'm in here with Elaine, Mr. Truman. Feel free to come in if you like," Jackie called back.

That being said, the door was immediately flung open, and Truman, wearing a beige suit and carrying a small briefcase, walked into the room with a smile.

"Why, good morning, Jackie," he said, shaking her hand. "Good to see how you were finally able to meet Elaine. The past couple of months have not easy for her at all due to what happened to one of her cousins…"

"Yes," Jackie interrupted. "Elaine already told me the story. And I believe you have a connection with this as well?"

"I do, but right now, this isn't the time to be discussing this. We're going to have to settle a couple more business first." Turning to Ella, he asked, "And who are you?"

"I'm Ella, Rose's babysitter," Ella responded, giving him a somewhat suspicious glance.

Upon Ella mentioning Rose, Truman finally noticed Rose next to the bed. He turned to her and said," So, is this the little daughter I've been hearing so much about?"

"Absolutely, Mr. Truman," Elaine answered for Jackie. "I can already tell that she's such a sweet girl, and I've done everything I could to make her feel comfortable here. I believe she's already making herself at home, seeing how she just adores this room and Little Franny over there."

"Who's Little Franny?" Rose asked.

Elaine chuckled. "Why, it's the doll, silly. She happens to be the same age as the hotel, having been created by Fanny Whitman, the daughter of Albert Whitman, who was the founder of Northern Horizons. She saw how some of the hotel's employees weren't able to afford toys for their children, so around the time Northern Horizons was opened, she created a total of forty three toys for the children of employees in just three weeks! She even made Little Franny's buddy Johnny over there," and she pointed towards the teddy bear which was beside the doll.

"Well, I've got to say that I'm very impressed with you, Elaine," Truman said proudly. "Most of the other employees never listen to a word I say to them regarding Northern Horizons' exceptional history, but you seem to have taken in every word I've said. I've got to say, if it wasn't for you and Sandy, the staff would probably lack the spirit which got Northern Horizons off to a good start nearly a century ago."

"Agreed, Mr. Truman," Elaine responded obediently. "The hotel could certainly use employees like us, but I believe Mrs. Tyler seems very promising so far."

"As do I, Elaine. It was because of how observant and dedicated she was at the interview that I selected Mrs. Tyler to be our winter caretaker," Truman said.

As Rose was trying to notice what kind of man Truman was, she felt a small tap on her shoulder. Thinking that it must be her mummy, Rose turned around, prepared to say something, but immediately closed her mouth upon noticing that nobody was there. She could only see Little Franny and Johnny still giving her their sweet smiles…

Then, upon putting her hand on the mattress, Rose found herself holding one of the buttons with five holes in the center. She was then forced to look back at Little Franny, whom she finally noticed to be missing her right eye, with a piece of white string hanging in its place.

"Rose, honey? Why don't you come say hello to Mr. Truman?" she heard her mummy asking her.

"Okay, Mummy," Rose answered, thinking that she couldn't look at that doll any longer. She then walked up to Truman and said in a very polite voice, "Good morning, Sir. It's nice to meet you."

"Good morning to you as well, Rose," Mr. Truman responded with a friendly smile. "I'm certainly looking forward to working with your mum this winter, and judging from your fine manners, I think you'll also be a pleasure to have around."

"Thank you," Rose replied with a smile of her own. Seeing how this man was acting, she thought she might like him at least a little. But due to some of her previous experience with people who were too polite (especially her observations of Elaine and Sandy so far), there was no way of knowing whether this meant that she could fully trust him. As seen through her visions, nice words could always be followed by cruel thoughts.

"Is something wrong, Rose? You seem to be worried about something," Mr. Truman said to her, looking more disturbed than concerned by her possible anxiety.

Luckily, Ella answered for her. "This has been a tough enough day for Rose without having you hurling questions at her. Of course, any kid that has to leave home would be nervous during their first day at a new place, and asking them pointless questions will only make them feel even more uncomfortable."

"Okay, I understand," Truman said impatiently. "I was just trying to ask the girl a simple question. There's no need to get all defensive about it."

"Why don't we just let my daughter and Ella be for a while and just handle whatever else I need to get done to get started on my job?" Jackie demanded, not wanting to get off on a bad start.

"Of course, Mrs. Tyler," Truman answered in almost automatic agreement with her. "Would you like to go over to my office, or are you okay with doing it all here?"

"Just as long as we don't go on disturbing Rose and Ella. And if you don't mind, could you tell Elaine to leave? I feel as if most her work with us is done," Jackie said, hoping he wouldn't be bothered by her requests.

"That's perfectly all right," Truman answered. Then, looking at Elaine, he said, "Elaine, I believe I saw some other guests coming in at the time I was getting here. Would you mind going over to help them?"

"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Truman," Elaine replied with an obedient nodding of the head. "I understand that this is a critical moment for Mrs. Tyler, and I would hate to be disturbing her."

"Good to see that you understand," Truman answered, and he escorted Elaine out. Before she left, though, she gave one last overly bright smile. However, this smile did not appear to be aimed towards Rose, but towards the whole room, particularly towards Little Franny and Johnny. Rose shivered upon seeing this, and turned away as quickly as possible so as not to worry her mother or Ella.

"Should we start then, Jackie?" Truman asked.

"Go ahead," Jackie answered, wondering what more could possibly be required of her.

To her relief, Truman said, "It's not going to be much, to tell you the truth. We've gone over so much of your requirements already that all you really have to do at this point is sign the official contracts."

"Sounds good," Jackie said.

"Although I probably go over some of the more important things I'll be expecting from you."

"And what would that be?" Jackie asked, thinking that he was simply going to repeat the same points he'd gone over with her during their previous meetings.

But instead, Truman started by saying, "First of all, in terms of when you're allowed to leave the hotel, I usually require the caretaker to always remain within the hotel grounds at night, with the exception of emergencies, which you'd be required to report to me as soon as possible."

"But you told me before that I would be allowed to leave whenever I wanted," Jackie said, wondering why he wouldn't want to bring this up until now.

"You are, during the daytime," Truman explained. "As I think we're both perfectly aware of, there's more of a chance of major trouble or crime going on at night. It would certainly be a cause for alarm if a robbery or a fight amongst drunken guests were to occur and the caretaker wouldn't be available to help deal with the situation. As a result, I require that all your breaks from your duties at the hotel are done during the daytime. I'm going to have a couple watchmen on night duty as well, but they will need your help when it comes to keeping people calm and calling the police."

"Okay. I think understand a little," Jackie replied, although she still wished he would have brought this up earlier.

"Good," Truman said with a nod. "Second of all, I will be expecting you to be willing to take my word as law when necessary."

To this, Jackie couldn't help but responding with a small laugh. "Are you serious? Taking your word as law? Doesn't that sound a little too extreme?"

Truman gave her serious look. "It might sound silly to you now, but if there's one thing I've learned from my time as owner and after going over Northern Horizon's more trouble history, it's that instability from employees is what has led to the majority of the problems this hotel has had to face in the past. The caretaker who was involved in that dreadful murder rarely listened to anything Jameson would tell him, even going so far as to be willing to report him for something he hadn't done. But of course, by the time this caretaker was starting to submit to Jameson's demands, it was too late."

"I see," Jackie replied uncomfortably. "But you can't expect blind obedience either, right?"

"Well, if you look at employees like Alison, you can't always expect such people to always listen to you. After having worked here though the murder and other crisis the hotel faced around the seventies through the eighties, it's hard to get her to trust anyone who works here, much less be fully willing to take in orders. I think the increase in salary and insurance benefits have settled Alison a little, though, since it keeps her from complaining too much about remaining with us As for Elaine and Sandy, they're young and inexperienced, and therefore, more willing to listen to those in charge in order to ease the transition into young adulthood."

"Just because you're young doesn't mean you'll listen to anything your boss tells you," Jackie heard Ella mumbling. "I thought the rebellion of youth would be more obvious to someone like this guy."

"Excuse me?" Truman asked her firmly. "Is there something you wanted me to know about?"

"No, just that I think you might be a little too hard on those girls sometimes," Ella responded.

"Well, let's just say obedience comes more easily to some young people than others. Looking at you, you obviously belong to the latter category, which I have nothing against. Just don't consider applying for summer jobs here anytime soon, because you will probably experience some difficulties when it comes to following my orders," Truman said bluntly.

"Okay. Thanks for the encouragement," Ella replied sarcastically. Then, turning to Rose, she said, "Don't you want to play with the two toys, Rose?"

"No," Rose said, sounding more nervous than she'd intended to.

"Why not? I don't see anything wrong with them as I did with those creepy statues and china dolls," Ella said, not understanding what was making Rose talk in this manner.

"Because I noticed that the doll is missing one of her eyes," Rose responded, wondering if telling her the truth, Ella might be able to ease her fears at least a little."

"What do mean?" Ella asked, clearly looking confused. Then, picking up Little Franny, she said, "See for yourself. Both of Little Franny's eyes are right where they should be."

And she was right. Little Franny's right eye had returned to its place, and now, the two eyes appeared to be much more closely aligned, resulting in the creepy appearance from before being completely eliminated.

"Never mind," Rose said, still sounding a little nervous. "Maybe it was just my imagination after looking at the things in the halls."

"Yeah, there's no need to worry, though. I sometimes feel like my imagination gets a little carried away when I'm nervous as well, and my Psychology studies don't always ease those fears enough," Ella said with a sympathetic smile.

"I see, but I still don't want to play with those toys. Is that okay?" Rose said.

"Of course, Rose," Ella said understandingly. "You do whatever makes you comfortable, and avoid anything that doesn't. After all, the older we get, the less attracted we are to toys. I would go so far as to say that they occasionally scare me as well."

Rose nodded, feeling a little better after what Ella told her.

"So," Truman said to Jackie. "I think that's enough for now. Are you ready to sign the contracts now?"

"Yes," Jackie answered, and proceeded to do it in pretty much the same manner as she'd signed Harry Sullivan's documents: without giving much thought into what was written in them. She noticed some details on her salary (she would be earning around eighteen quid per hour, which seemed like a little too much for a hotel employee), as well as several details from her previous conversations with Truman with more complex wording, but as before, she just couldn't get herself to read the whole thing. If she had, she would have noticed a repetition on Truman's insistence on obedience written in a manner which seemed a little too harsh ("Any serious violation on the orders set about by the employer shall result in automatic termination of employment"), as well as the time in which she was allowed to leave the hotel ("Starting at seven o'clock in the morning, the caretaker is allowed to depart from the hotel so long as he/she returns at some point during the day to resume his/her duties).

Once she was done, she dropped the pen on the desk in a manner which seemed very final, as if she'd just signed a peace treaty or other political compromise instead of just employment documentation. "All right, I supposed we're all done with this for now," she said to Truman.

"I wouldn't say that, Jackie," Truman said with a smile. "I prefer seeing this as the beginning of what's to be a memorable journey for the both of us, not to mention your little girl."

"I hope so," Jackie said. And then, just as Truman was preparing to leave, she said, "Could I ask you something before you go?"

"Sure, Jackie. What is it?" Truman responded.

"Did you buy all those clothes which are in our wardrobe?"

"No," Truman replied with a surprised expression. "I usually limit myself to providing the caretaker with new supplies or extra food during their first days. Given my limited knowledge on clothing, I wouldn't have had any idea what to buy for you or your daughter. But perhaps they are old gifts that have always been here, just as Little Franny and Johnny are."

"I see," Jackie responded, and wondered how many more of these unexpected gifts she and Rose would soon be finding.

 **Next, we'll be returning to a couple of characters from past chapters. Things have not been going well for at least one of these people, and like Jackie and Rose, they'll soon be dealing with some very haunting forces, but whether they'll turn out being just as lucky as those two have been so far is something we have to watch out for.**


	25. Chapter 25

In a way, Hannah Lewis always knew that something like this would happen to her. Not so much being involved in a deadly car accident, hearing strange noises at night, and then having the place where she worked burned down (who could possibly predict such things at the age of nine?) as the fact that she would go through so many difficult situations that it would come to the point where she'd become helpless and give up on everything. At this moment, lying on the couch in her old blue pajamas with a drenched cloth around her forehead and the latest issue of _The Guardian_ having been tossed in the bowl where she'd been eating crisps several hours before, she couldn't imagine any other point in her life where she'd felt such helplessness as she did now.

However, there had been other times when she felt very close to reaching this point. The first time was when she was seven and her father, David Lewis, who was the head of a major manufacturing company in the US, had moved the family from Utah to England in order to promote business in Europe. At first, they were supposed to be moving around to different European countries every four months so that the company could branch out across the continent, but because David was a very powerful persuader, he was able to come up with a different deal in which foreign business executives came to see him at his new home instead of him moving to around. As a result, David and Leeann Lewis and their four children (two more would be born in England; with Hannah being the second oldest of her siblings) left everything behind and moved to Bristol, England.

Since it was the late seventies at the time of their move, with the much more liberated social attitudes being clearly visible in everything from music and late night shows to the dress of students (girls wearing pants to school and boys trying to imitate the styles of their favorite rock stars), Hannah's parents were already more than a little mistrustful of current social trends in the states. However, upon their arrival in England, where songs like The Sex Pistol's anarchic "God Save the Queen" made the sensual music of Marvin Gaye and Barry White sound wholesome in comparison, and sixteen-year-olds could be seen walking out of bars with cans of beer in their hands, it was already too much for her parents to take. David Lewis went so far as to sell the family radio and Leeann forbade the children from hanging out with other children who weren't a part of their church (meaning they could only have up to three playmates at best). As a result, much of Hannah's early days in England were spend alone in her room, with her wishing that she could run off in the middle of night and catch the first flight back to the USA.

To make matters worse, no one at school would respect Hannah at all once they found out she was a Mormon. Given the fact that she'd been enrolled in a strict, private Anglican school, since it was one of the only religious schools available in the area, even the teachers would sometimes cast suspicious looks upon her when they thought she wasn't noticing them and would purposely refuse to interfere as students would ask Hannah how many stepmothers she had, imitated her American accent, or try to offer her coffee-flavored chocolate. As a matter of fact, the more kids made Hannah's school days a living hell, jumping at her during recess, sticking gum either in her hair or under the chair, or bellowing out insults at her during dinner, the more satisfied they seemed to be, perhaps because deep down, they believed more in making sure outsiders remained cast out than in the values they were actually supposed to be passing on to the kids.

None of this stopped until a school sponsored camping trip when Hannah was in year five, during which a group of kids stole her clothes as she was swimming in the lake and then, as she went around half clad in front of the majority of the class trying to find her bag of clothes around the woods, these kids got a hold of her, dragged her back into the lake, and started dunking her into the water. A teacher had to take her out of the water and then drag the troublemaking students immediately into the cabin, with the final disciplinary action being a month's suspension. When Hannah's parents found out about this, though, they complained to the school, and after the headmaster only went on insisting that the actions they'd taken with the perpetrators was fair enough because they didn't know better and it would be harsh to permanently ruin their records as students by expelling them at such young ages, David and Leeann removed Hannah from the school and enrolled her in public school for the rest of her academic years.

In some ways, this had been a good change for Hannah. After this incident, her parents became a little less strict and permitted Hannah and her siblings a lot of the things which had been denied to them when they first arrived in England. As the years went by, each one of them was speaking in a British accent, spending time with classmates of different religious beliefs, and doing activities such as going to concerts, attending parties, and accompanying their father on business trips around Europe without having to receive too much supervision. And yet, Hannah still felt very self–conscious and unsafe sometimes, resulting in her barely ever visiting the homes of even her closest friends, going out at night only if one of her siblings accompanied her, and remaining more focused on her duties at home, school, and church above all else. Her biggest fear was that if she broke out of such routines, that everything would go wrong to the point where she'd lose confidence in herself and end up falling apart.

And then, she'd met Jackie Tyler as she was preparing to finish her degree in education, who'd been different from all her previous friends in the past, being a young single mother and an alcoholic. The fact that she was so different and troubled yet deeply devoted to her daughter, as well as how most of the other teachers didn't like her, was most likely what had drawn Hannah to Jackie. Several times she'd had plans to help Jackie out, thinking of perhaps offering her a little money to start a savings account to return to school, or encouraging her to attend support groups for alcoholics. But what happened instead was that Jackie would get Hannah involved in her problems one way or another, whether by leaving her to look after Rose when she was having one of her strange blackouts, or having her along during one of her drinking binges. At best, Hannah had been able to provide a helping hand when Jackie was feeling too helpless, but at worse was the car accident and fire, which had left Hannah in the worse emotional state she'd been in years.

During her darkest moments, Hannah sometimes wondered if she would have been better off if she'd never met Jackie Tyler. As a matter of fact, it seemed like all she could think about regarding their friendship was the bad vibes she felt whenever she was around Jackie, whether they were working together at the nursery school or driving home from a bar late into the night. It felt as if some kind of dark force was always by that woman's side, waiting to knock down anyone who got too close to her. But whether the force at work was Jackie's own self-destructive nature, or something which Hannah couldn't even begin to understand, was what she couldn't stop thinking about.

Her thoughts were then interrupted by a rapturous knocking on the door, forcing her to step out of the living room in order to answer it. At first, she thought it would be Laura Benton, who was her closest neighbor and a sergeant in the British Army, something which under normal circumstances would have caused Hannah to have a deep mistrust of her. However, because she'd managed to learn that Laura had spent much of her childhood living abroad (the fact that the two of them had to adjust to life in a foreign country at a young age had instantly brought the two of them together), as well as the fact that she had a very likable personality despite still having some of that tough demeanor which was common in soldiers, the two of them had managed to become friends, and there were times when Hannah felt closer to her than she did to Jackie Tyler.

But when Hannah opened the door, there was no one standing around waiting for her. Instead, she felt a rush of chilly air running through her body, causing her to violently shake despite the fact that the chill was a rather small one that went away quickly. As a matter of fact, it almost felt like the force was coming from down below, as if a small animal were attacking her through her feet and legs, instead of coming from the cold yet light air from above.

And as this awful shaking went on, Hannah suddenly felt her vision starting to become more blurry, and what felt like the spinning of the room, causing her to lean against the wall in an attempt to maintain her balance. Then, she actually did feel something pulling her by the legs, followed by a feeling similar to being stabbed as she felt something cold and metallic running its way across her skin.

Upon feeling this terrible pain, she screamed as loudly as she could in an attempt to get the attention of her neighbors. However, all she heard in response was a wild, sickly laugh, sounding as if someone were heavily coughing and chuckling at the same time, or as if the act of laughter were physically painful for the person (or thing), yet for some unthinkable reason still had to be let out, perhaps due to the pleasure of seeing someone in a more helpless state than it was in.

And, as if in response to what she was suspecting, the last thing Hannah heard before she fully lost consciousness was someone yelling out in a coarse, yet satisfied, voice, "How does it feel, my dear woman? How does it feel to be in such a helpless state and knowing no one will come out to help you? How does it feel to be staring directly into the face of death for months and knowing, despite how much you hope for your situation to change, that there's no escaping what fate already has in store for you?"

Seconds after she passed out, a woman in a sky blue nightgown with a sickly, malnourished appearance, dark, unruly hair, and a neck which remained twisted to the right side of her body trotted over to Hannah. Bending down, she gripped the small, blood socked knife away which had been left stuck between Hannah's legs, whipped it with her nightgown, and then held it straight through her right hand. She then started dragging Hannah's body away, heading in the direction of the bathroom, and said to herself, with an evil smirk on her face, "Now here's someone else who's soon to understand what true helplessness is. If she thought nearly getting drowned by her classmates as a child was torture, I'm sure she'll soon take that back and realize, that the last months of her life, during which I tormented her and some of her closest friends to the point of a breakdown, were a whole lot worse. Perhaps she'll end up becoming as vengeful as me, but of course, only time can tell."

…

On the flat next door, Laura Benton was seated on a desk in her bedroom, typing a report for UNIT through her computer while listening to an old Anne Murray record, which had been her mother's favorite back when her family lived in Vancouver. It was very hard to concentrate on work lately, especially due to the Rose Tyler business and what was going on with her neighbor, Hannah. Regarding the former, she not been able to come in contact with Mrs. Tyler at all since her meeting with Harry Sullivan. For one thing, whenever she tried to call her using her home phone number, either she was never there to answer it or the line was somehow cut. And when she asked Michael Truman about Mrs. Tyler during the three occasions she'd gone over to Northern Horizons for meetings, he'd give her a stoic look as he responded by saying, "Ms. Benton, if you could provide evidence to me regarding why you must see her so badly, then I'll gladly let her come in contact with you ahead of time. But given the fact that you have none so far, I can only assume that you're probably just being nosy about my employees, something which I'm not very keen on at all."

And when it came to Hannah, it was much worse. She rarely ever left her flat after leaving her teaching job shortly after the nursery school where she worked was burned down, and when Laura dropped by to visit, she was almost always lying down in either the sofa or her bed, rarely saying more than a brief, vague sentence to her in response to her questions, saying things like, "Oh, I'm feeling fine today; better than yesterday in fact", or, if she were being more honest, "I'm just plain old lousy right now". If she ate anything at all, it was usually a bag of crisps or a package of pastries; full meals were just too much for her now. For a long time now, Laura couldn't stop thinking of what the right thing to do was during this situation. Was it best to just leave her be, or should she tell someone about this, perhaps to Uncle John or through a call to Hannah's parents? Or would it be better if she were to call the hospital, telling them that she believed her neighbor was possibly mentally ill?

Then, all of sudden, Laura heard a horrifying scream coming through the walls. Not one of those small and quick ones you heard after someone had been startled or spotted a bug crawling through the kitchen, but the long, blood- shattering ones you heard in horror movies when someone was face-to-face with a psychotic killer.

Laura didn't hesitate for even a second, her military instincts taking over immediately; almost as soon as she heard the screaming, she shot right out of her flat as quickly as if she were the one being chased by a potential murderer and went into Hannah's flat right away (the door was left unlock, another sign that things weren't right over there). Upon being inside, the screaming only got louder, and with just a quick glance around the place, Laura could tell that it was coming from one of the rooms in the back of the flat. As a matter of fact, she was paying such close attention to the screams that she didn't even consider looking down at the floor, where the blood which was drenched all around would have been enough to figure out what was going on without going any further.

But upon making it into the bathroom, there was a more gruesome scene awaiting her: Hannah was sprawled around the bathtub, which was filled with cold water, and her legs were almost completely covered with bloody cuts, some which ran all the way across her thighs and others which were small yet fully visible due to the fact that they were bleeding so heavily. But the even worse sight was the wound between her neck and her heart, in which both her blood and her flesh could be seen.

"Laura!" Hannah screamed, clearly struggling to let the words come across clearly, since her voice was now severely strained due to her injuries. "Laura. It- It's too la- late now. I-I'll be de… dead before I cou- could ma-make it out of here." She then started heavily couching, and spat out blood into the bathtub, in which the dark red liquid was more visible than the water which it was running through.

"No, Hannah," Laura said, struggling to remain calm as she was looking directly into this sickening sight. "I'm going to call the hospital and they're going to take care of you. Perhaps you'll make it if I can be quick enough." But as she said this, she didn't if she was trying to convince Hannah of this or herself.

"So-someone's life is in da-danger, and you mu-must t-try to he-help th- them," Hannah said, struggling even more to let all the words out.

"Who is? Tell me if you can," Laura begged.

Hannah took a deep breath, and then said, without a hint of a stutter, "It's Jackie and Rose Tyler. Their lives are in danger, and if no one helps them, they'll suffer the same fate as I will." After she said this, she coughed violently and then lost consciousness, lying so still in the bathtub that Laura had no choice but to check her pulse through her wrist. She felt nothing at all, an automatic sign that Hannah Lewis was dead.

She then called both the hospital and her uncle John, and he managed to join along with her as they drove up to hospital, since they were not allowed to accompany Hannah in the ambulance due to the fact that they were not relatives. Hannah's death was made official at hospital, and both Laura and John Benton had to give a testimony of what they witnessed to the police, who were the first to contact Hannah's family with the bad news.

The news of this was all over the papers the next day, yet it would be a while before Jackie and Rose Tyler were informed about it.


	26. Chapter 26

That same night, Rose had what was her strangest psychic experience so far. A couple minutes after lying down in the comfortable bed which had already been set up for her, she felt a strange sensation, as if someone was giving her a very light push. This resulted in her believing that she was at the point of falling off her bed, so she gripped as tightly to the bedpost as possible, even going so far as to reach out to Little Franny (who had somehow found her way back into the bed when Rose wasn't noticing) to keep her balance. However, the pushing sensation continued, with the grip Rose felt around her back getting a lot more forceful and painful within each second.

Rose did the only thing she could think of doing at the moment. _John Smith!_ She cried out in panic. _John Smith, do you know what's happening to me? It feels as if someone's pushing me very hard! Please make it stop if you can!_

In response, John Smith said to her in a calm and gentle tone, _Rose, what you I think you'll be experiencing is probably going to come across as very scary, but you're going to remain safe. If you start seeing frightening images, know that nothing you see is capable of physically hurting you._

 _So does that mean that I'll be having visions?_

 _Yes. I can't tell you right away if they will be scary or not, but it could still come across as a frightening experience because you'll probably start getting confused over what feels real and what doesn't. Whatever happens, keep reminding yourself that what you're seeing isn't real, and you'll be okay. Is that clear?_

 _But John Smith, will you still be able to…_

She didn't get to finish this thought, because the push reached its most forceful point yet, and the sensation of falling completely took over, making Rose feel as if she had just leaped off a cliff. However, screaming was impossible, because this same force that had pushed her now kept her from the capacity to utter even a single sound.

A couple seconds later, Rose found herself in a cold, dark room full of small desks and piles of toys scattered around. It was only upon looking at the blackboard with "Welcome! The date is 3rd of December, 1992" which was written in the pink chalk which her teacher always loved using, that she realized that she was in her classroom. This gave her a slight sense of relief because she thought she might see Miss Bryan in there, who'd once told her students in a happy manner that she loved the school so much that she even slept there. Perhaps she had a secret room hidden in the building, if not the classroom itself, where she would be found having a late night tea and watching a video tape of old _Coronation Street_ episodes, which was something she admitted to doing during nights when she couldn't sleep.

Suddenly, as if serving as a sign, a small flicker of light was seen in the back of the room.

Rose smiled in delight and called out, "Miss Bryan! It's me, Rose Tyler. I've come to visit you for the evening!" She'd already grown so happy that John Smith's words were almost completely forgotten. After all, this was nowhere near being the scary scene which she'd been expecting before the falling sensation had begun…

And then, the flickering stopped.

"That's funny," Rose said to herself. "Maybe Miss Bryan is scared of having her students see her when she's not teaching class. Perhaps she's been in her pajamas and decided to change clothes before seeing. But if she wanted to do that, then why would she turn off the lights?" She then started walking in the direction in which she'd seen the light, wanting to find the room where her teacher was staying.

But upon reaching the light's source, she didn't find simply a door, but the old storage closet where the art supplies were stored; the exact same one as Heather Marsh had opened up on the day of her birthday only to find cobwebs and yellowing paper.

"That's funny. Why did I not think that it was coming from here all along?" she wondered. As a matter of fact, she seemed to have fully forgotten that the storage closet was even in the classroom in the first place, even though she saw it every day at school. Come to think of it, did she ever see toys littered up all over the place, as she now noticed upon taking a closer look at the room?

 _Rose, how can you be so stupid?_ She thought to herself. _John Smith told you that nothing you'd see would be real, and now here you are, getting all happy because you thought you'd see your teacher in here. How would it even come close to being scary, as he said your visions would be?_

And then, the lights started flickering again, going on and off several times.

"This isn't real," Rose said, just as she started feeling her heart race out of fear. "John Smith said that none of this would be real…"

"Rose!" she heard a familiar voice calling out from the storage room. "Rose, please help me! I'm trapped in this closet, and I can't get out no matter what I do!"

It was Clara Oswald, who had been staying with Dr. Sullivan and Christine at Northern Horizons and had disappeared the night after Rose had gone to see them.

"Clara, I'm going to get you out right now," Rose called out. "Just give me a second to try opening this door…"

But when she placed her hands on it, it remained firmly in place, not moving even the slightest manner.

"I can't open it!" she cried out anxiously. "How could I possibly get you out…?"

 _Remember Rose, none of this is real,_ she thought to herself. _You may think Clara is right here with you, but she's just another part of this vision, just like the classroom is._

But if Clara was seeing Dr. Sullivan, it had to mean that she had some sort of special abilities. Rose had not been able to form a connection of the mind with her, but she still knew that such abilities could take on many shapes and forms.

"Clara, don't you feel as if you might be dreaming?" Rose asked, telling her the first thing that came to mind, and then sighed over once again getting carried away within this vision. What was Clara going to think (that was if she was really experiencing the same vision as Rose) upon being asked if she was dreaming? Most people would think this was a crazy question for sure, and Rose didn't want to be rejected for sounding crazy yet again, especially if it someone who was most likely similar to her.

But to her relief, Clara responded by saying, "I actually do, because the last thing I remember before appearing in this closet is lying down in my bed, and ever since I've been stuck here, it's been so hard to move around. My daddy says that this happens a lot in dreams."

"Is this the first time something like this has happened to you?" Rose asked.

"Well, I've never dreamed that I was stuck in a closet before. But I'm now starting to remember these weird dreams I've been having of meeting certain people."

"Certain people? Like who?"

"Some of them look just like me. They're always wearing some kind of weird clothes and doing something which either seems very fun or very important. I remember one of those girls trying to bake a soufflé like my mummy does and then nearly blowing up the oven, so she started running into this city which looked like the ones you see in _The Jetsons_ , saying something about some bad guy who she was thought was trying to kill her."

"Sounds a little funny," Rose said, smiling in spite of her slight anxiety.

"I know, but it was a bit scary at the same time. And…" She hesitated for a while, and then said, "And I don't just see these girls. There's someone else that I see a lot too."

"And do you know who it is?"

"Yes, but…" She paused once again, having sounded a lot more scared now then she did before.

"Clara, please tell me! I have to know," Rose insisted.

"It's you," Clara answered, now on the verge of tears. "I've been dreaming of you for a long time, but I wasn't able to tell who you were. And it was when I met you that I started remembering all the dreams I'd been having. The woman who took me home from the hotel said that you are very important, and that you're going to save a lot of people. She also said that I would be helping you in some way. I don't know how, but I think my dreams have something to do with it."

Suddenly, the two of them heard a loud thudding sound, as if someone was trying to break into the classroom. Then, Clara started screaming, and the doors to the storage closet burst open. All the yellowed paper and art supplies fell to the ground, and upon seeing Clara, Rose noticed that she'd gotten her arms and legs tangled up in the cobwebs which surrounded nearly every corner of the closet.

"Rose, help me!" Clara yelled, waving her arms around forcefully in an attempt to break free from the cobwebs.

Rose ran up to her and held out her arms to start untangling her. But upon meeting Clara's gaze, everything started looking blurry and incoherent, and before long, she could no longer see the classroom. Instead, she was now kneeling on a blue rug in front of a bathtub, and her hands weren't holding Clara's small, frail hands, but rather the bloody wrists of a young woman, whose long brown hair completely shielded her face, but whose body was covered with deep wounds which sent trails of dark blood onto the water which filled up about half of the tub.

"It's not real," Rose said in an anxious voice. "It's just a vision. No one is really hurt here."

But why had it changed so quickly? Why was she in her empty classroom just a couple of seconds ago and now found herself in the bathroom of a woman who'd most likely been killed while taking a bath? She knew such things could happen in dreams, but was it common to experience it in visions too?

And then, the silence was broken by an uproarious laughter, and instead of seeing the lifeless brown haired woman lying in the tub, Rose was now looking at the creepy disfigured woman who had appeared to her on her birthday.

"Surprise, sweetheart!" she called out in a wild voice. "How has being six been going so far? Looks like you've been having it tough based on what I've seen so far!"

"Go away!" Rose screamed. "I'm only having a vision! You can't hurt me in any way like this."

"Oh, you poor little girl. Hasn't this invisible doctor friend of yours told you how he's such a big liar yet? I may not be able to physically hurt you, but emotionally, I can still cause a tremendous amount of fear and trauma. After, you're still very young, and all these experiences you've had are already enough to profoundly affect your well-being once you're grown up."

"How do you know that?" Rose demanded. "Maybe my powers could help me become a hero, like Batman or Wonder Woman."

The woman gave an evil chuckle. "Children and their wild imaginations. When I was a child, I thought I could be a fairy, being able to fly all over the place and granting wishes to silly girls all over the world. The way I saw it, it was so easy to get rid of evil. Just a wave a magic wand and it will all go away, or look in the direction of the stars at night and wish for all the dictators and killers to get beaten by some charming chap in a suit; that was all I believed had to happen to stop all the bad things in this world. And you want to know what happened later?"

"What?" Rose asked, her voice quivering from fear.

"Just like you, I started sensing some evil presence in the place where my sister's boyfriend worked. I told him and my sister all about my fears on several occasions, and what do they do? Just laugh in my face and tell me that I'm too old to believe in such superstitious nonsense and that perhaps I should stop watching so many scary movies, even though I rarely ever watched them."

"So you're saying that you had ESP?" Rose demanded to know.

"No, silly! I was just an ordinary woman who happened to find some demonic girl in a hotel room, going on about how all was safe as long as I always found my way back into that awful place. And that screaming; that terrible screaming which always occurred close to nighttime. I couldn't stand any of it, but my sister's boyfriend was so attached to that bloody place, always going on about how all his hard work over the years had saved it from obscurity."

"And where was…?"

"So, what do you think happened later on?" the woman demanded in a forceful, frightening voice.

"Did someone in that place hurt you?" Rose asked, the fear in her voice coming across more clearly than it did before.

"No; much worse than that. I drove off with my husband one night, hoping for the chance to escape from all the haunting incidents I'd been going through lately. And then, riding around not that far from us, was none other than your bloody mother and her closest friend!"

"You mean Hannah?" Rose said. It had been so long since her mummy had heard anything from Hannah, since whenever she tried calling her to get some idea of how she was, the calls always went unanswered. This bothered Jackie a little, but because she was so busy preparing for the temporary move to Northern Horizons, she put her worries about her friend aside for moment, thinking that she was finding some way to adjust on her own and didn't need Jackie's help after all they'd gone through together.

"Of course; who else do you believe it could have been, you stupid girl?" the woman answered in a disgusted tone. "Because she was such a good friend, she agreed to drive your drunken wretch of a mother home for the evening, and because of their thoughtlessness, their car ran right into ours, and this collision ended up killing both my husband and me."

For a moment, Rose was silent. Was that what she'd been seeing in the dream she'd had when her mother arrived home late on the first day of school? Why had neither John Smith nor her mother told her the full story of what had happened? Did they worry about scaring her with the information that her mother had nearly been killed, or did they fear what her reaction would upon hearing that her mother was partially responsible for the death of a young couple?

"But of course, your beloved Doctor John Smith couldn't bear having someone so close to you being killed, so he send a telepathic message to one of his closest allies to help save them, and save them she did. It was one of those dreadful Time Ladies, who could walk across the most blazing infernos and step away fully unharmed, or in the worst case scenario, can simply regenerate. Good way to cheat death, don't you think so, sweetheart?"

"Why do you say that? Did you really wish my mummy would…?" And before she could finish, Rose felt herself being pushed once again, only this time, it was the woman's light yet strong arms that had taken a hold of her, and she landed on the slippery floor with a loud thud.

"Your mother and her friend were supposed to have died right alongside me, Rose Tyler! You can't mess with what fate has in store for you and expect to walk away unharmed! It's for that reason why I can't rest in peace, and why half of the universe hates those wretched Time Lords who manipulate the rules of time for their own conveniences. But I'm not going to let more time pass by without doing something to set things right once and for all. I managed to kill Hannah Lewis tonight, and before you know it, my dear little Rose, you'll be left an orphan, without anyone to protect you. And I'll be sure to make sure that old Doctor and all your wonderful new friends pay their dues as well. Your little friend Christine and her own Doctor Sullivan have started getting their fair share of my revenge already, as did Clara before John Smith's ally helped her get away from it. And you, as the daughter of one of the women who killed me and what some in other planets call a soul girl, will experience the worse of my wrath and pay the full price for it by having your life spared, forcing you to live through all the haunting experiences which will come about for the rest of your life!"

And then, before Rose could speak up, she once again pushed her down, letting off an evil laugh as Rose tumbled down into the middle of nowhere, now screaming as hard as she could.

The next thing Rose knew, she was back in bed, feeling horribly hot and jittery for what appeared to be no reason. Thinking back, she couldn't recall what had made her so frightened. All she could remember was feeling a small push, seeing Clara talking about how she'd managed to safely get away from Northern Horizons, and finding some woman in a bathroom with a laugh coming straight out of a bad scary movie. Just as John Smith had told her before the vision had begun, no one managed to hurt her, so why was she still so scared?

Not once did it occur to Rose, as she managed to drift off into a long and deep sleep after pushing aside her disturbing thoughts on what it was which she couldn't remember from her visions, that perhaps John Smith was just as capable of lying as any human could.

 **Next, will the memories from that vision remain forgotten by Rose, or will something occur which will trigger them back at some point? And the news of Hannah's death will be revealed to Jackie soon, and will bring about some new alliances from a couple people we've already met, as well as further reveal the dark sides of characters whom Jackie and Rose already little trust in.**


	27. Chapter 27

There were times when Victoria Harris sincerely wished that she could either forget the most haunting moments of her adolescence, or that she would wake up back in her old, beautiful room in London in the year 1866, discovering that everything she'd lived through over the past twenty-three years (and that was just counting the time she'd been living permanently on Earth) had just been a very strange and often frightening dream, with her father still alive and her comfortable, predictable life from before still going on without any interruption.

Instead, here she was, a thirty-eight year old woman who looked as if she were still in her late teens, shuffling around from place to place every two years because she couldn't have people getting to know her long enough to start questioning why it was that she didn't appear to be aging at all. As of now, she'd been able to obtain a good job as a private school teacher here in London (it helped that she managed to complete a university degree in education while she was living in Ontario last year), but her past jobs had ranged from being a fisherwoman while living in a small cottage in Sweden to being a disc jockey at a nightclub in Brooklyn. She often laughed when imagining what Jamie McCrimmon, who'd often teased her about how ladylike she was back when she was traveling with the Doctor, would think upon seeing her stepping into a cold lake in dirty overalls while attempting to catch a large fish through a net which was almost as big as her, assisting with a harvest in the countryside of Japan, or having that ridiculously messy hair they had a couple years back while playing that noisy new wave music to groups of rowdy college students.

However, she wasn't the same scared young lady she'd been when she first set foot in the TARDIS over a century ago. She'd faced dozens of terrifying foes during that time, from the Deleks that had killed her father to the Yeti, which had been lurking about in 1960s London, and there were times when all she could do was scream and await the moment when the Doctor or Jamie would rescue her. Yet, even during those moments when she was too frightened to take action, she was still learning how to adapt to a life of constant danger, where you never knew when you'd be facing your next threat.

And perhaps even more surprising than how much all these events had changed her was how in spite of the constant danger, she, the Doctor, and Jamie had still been able to become in many ways like a very close, and somewhat dysfunctional, family. The Doctor reminded Victoria of an eccentric professor whom despite being very awkward and goofy, was still extremely clever and capable of teaching anyone the most astonishing lessons they'd ever learn. He'd told her that he often thought of his own family, whom she'd always assumed had either died during their adventures with him or had to be left behind because he didn't want to risk losing them, but that despite the pain he went through went through when thinking about them, he'd still managed to move on and remain brave.

And then there was Jamie, who was in every way like the older brother she'd never had. He'd left much behind as well, having been a soldier from the Scottish Highlands in the 1700s (he would often tell her tales of his life during those days when she couldn't sleep, always swearing that none of the things he told her were exaggerated, even though half of them appeared to be so) so he fully understood what it was like to be unfamiliar with all the technology and strange customs which made up a large part of the futuristic worlds they'd visited, and always did his best to make her comfortable with her surroundings. Of course, he'd teased her as much as any other boy would have, always poking fun at her "very Victorian" mannerisms, as the Doctor would sometimes call them (back then, it had been shocking to her to find out how the legacy of Queen Victoria was remembered in such a scornful manner), but he'd also been very protective of her, refusing to rest from any mission if she had in anyway run into trouble along the way, and he was largely the reason why she didn't fall into a permanent state of melancholy during those difficult early days in the TARDIS.

In fact, after she was left behind with the Harris family in 1968, she ended up having a hard time adjusting due to how their earlier impressions of being a warm, loving family weren't completely genuine. Upon falling ill for several weeks, having terrible fevers and stomach aches, they cared for her just as any parents would, but they never wanted to hear the stories of her travels, dismissing them as symptoms of delusion due to her fever and stress related to her father's death. "It's just a little fantasy you created for yourself to adjust to the situation, Victoria," Frank Harris had said dismissively after she went on again with the stories after a slight recovery from her illness. "Many children do that, but they move on once their situation improves, and that's exactly what will happen with you, my dear. All you have to do is decide to move on."

"I'm not a child and I know perfectly well what I'm talking about!" Victoria had protested. "You saw how frightened I got when riding in your car, and how I couldn't stand the sound of rock music when you played it on the radio. What will it take you to believe that I'm not of this time; that all of this is very strange to me?"

"Of course, time got delayed for you, Victoria," Natalie Harris said gently. "When a loved one dies, it's as if time just ceases to move forward. However, claiming you're from 1866 is putting things a little too far. And yes, your friends who left you behind were rather eccentric, but it can't be because they were time travelers. You have a family with us now, so it's best to forget the tales you made up to adjust to the past and focus on what's happening around you right now."

And for a while, this was what Victoria tried to do. However, she never failed to come across as odd to all the people around her, whether it was the kids at school, who teased her for not wanting to go to parties with them and feeling uncomfortable with using slang or dressing in certain clothing, the neighbors, who always felt the need to question her on her past and whether she was adjusting to her new life, or the Harris' themselves, who only seemed to get more frustrated with Victoria's failure to conform as time went on. It even got to the point where they started seeing her sudden moments of illness as an attempt to get their attention, and they sometimes forced her to go to school even when she was feeling sick, resulting in her vomiting in front of the whole class on one occasion, and being send to the emergency room in another.

However, what served as the last straw for the Harrises was what happened when she finally left the small town where they lived in to attend university. Upon visiting her, they noticed that she looked a lot better off than she'd been when she was living with them, being able to eat well without getting sick, actually talking and laughing along with her peers, and even going out on her own without being forced to. Victoria was able to clearly notice how resentful this made them feel, making it seem as if she was more happier on her own than she was as their adopted daughter.

After completing her first year of university, Victoria got a letter from them asking her not to return home, explaining how they were no longer giving her any financial support and would have to find her own place to stay and a job if she wanted to continue on in university. "It's clear that you never appreciated all we did for you when we took you in," they'd written around the end of the letter, "So now you'll be getting what you wanted all along and will never be seeing or hearing from us again. Goodbye and good riddance to us all." Victoria had burst into tears and thrown that letter down the window of her dorm after she finished reading it. She'd then packed up all her things and used what remained of her money to get on a bus to London, where she lived in a small room rented out to her by a retired schoolteacher and made a living as a waitress. Upon noticing how she was no longer aging within two years of being on her own, she moved out of England and lived in four different European countries throughout the rest of the seventies, moving on to other parts of the world when the eighties began and her savings had grown larger.

And now, she was back in the country where she'd grown up all those years ago, finally being able to afford the comfortable lifestyle she'd secretly wish to have once again, and was preparing for a Christmas gathering amongst the members of a private school council which was to take place in what was once a luxurious hotel. She thought of all this as she stepped into the elegant building which was the Northern Horizons Hotel, which she saw as being similar to the TARDIS in how the inside and outside were significantly different from each other. However, while the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, Northern Horizons was older and uglier on the inside, as the cracked old walls and the armless china doll waving her remaining right hand reminded her upon walking through the entrance.

"Why, welcome once again, Victoria Harris!" one of the blonde assistants said upon noticing that she'd just arrived, giving her an overly friendly smile which Victoria had gotten accustomed to seeing over time despite how it made her a little nervous from strange reason. "Would you like some help…"

"No, thank you. I think I've gotten to know this place quite well after a month of coming here, but I still appreciate your efforts to help me, Sandy," Victoria responded, hoping to have gotten the girl's name right for once.

The girl gave her what looked like a forced smile. "Actually, I'm Elaine."

"Sorry," Victoria said nervously.

"No problem; it's just that you've been seeing us for a month, so I'd expect you to have been able to recognize us by now. Mrs. Tyler certainly has, and so has little Rose," Elaine responded, sounding a little too serious regarding Victoria's mistake.

"But you two do look an awful lot alike," Victoria said, wondering if it wasn't already obvious to Elaine.

"Perhaps, but there are some obvious differences. If you're really clever enough to get into a teacher's group, you should be able to do it easily enough," Elaine said with a hint of scorn in her tone. "Now, let's get back to business. You're supposed to be meeting along with Laura Benton, the history correspondent for your group."

"History; now that's a subject I know very well," Victoria said with a small smile. It helped that she was able to live through a lot of it. However, she'd passed off the subject for English because she didn't want to make it too obvious how well she actually knew the material.

"Good for you. Perhaps you'll be able to have nice little discussions over it with Miss Benton then," Elaine said, escorting her through the lobby despite the fact that Victoria could have been able to get there easily on her own. But Victoria didn't say anything about it because the first and only time she'd ever brought it up, Elaine had given her a very mean look, saying that escorting her was her job, and she didn't want to risk losing her job on account of Victoria's stubbornness. What exactly was so stubborn about this was something Victoria couldn't comprehend at all, but Elaine had been so adamant about it that she had no choice but to just let her do what she pleased.

And as they were making their way through, they came across Sandy, who was holding a newspaper in her hand. "Elaine," she said in a bored tone, "Mrs. Tyler hadn't been getting _The_ _London Times_ over the past two days, and she asked that it be given to her today. Since you're the one who's supposed to be by her side every other hour, why not do the courtesy of bringing it over?"

"That would be my pleasure, Sandy," Elaine answered. "Especially since you always make your disdain for our guests a little too apparent."

"You weren't being so nice to Miss Harris just now, so you're certainly not one to speak," Sandy said stoically.

"Just give me the paper, Sandy," Elaine demanded.

"Fine," Sandy said with a sigh, handing Elaine a folded copy of _The London Times_.

"Thank you for being so courteous for once," Elaine said sarcastically. Then she shook her head and made a gesture with her hand to let Victoria know that they would be moving on.

Victoria gave out a small sigh, wondering if Michael Truman actually required his assistants to treat guests like dogs or if that was just the way Elaine liked handling things. When interacting with Rose, she treated the girl like one of those miniature poodles Victoria sometimes saw on television, and she always felt the need to repeatedly give Jackie orders on things she was already aware of.

"And here we are!" Elaine said in a voice that was a little too cheerful, directing a smile towards Laura Benton, who was seated in a bench and looking through a notebook. "Miss Benton, this is Victoria Harris. And Miss Harris, this is Laura Benton."

Laura smiled at Victoria. "How are you, Victoria?" she asked, shaking her hand.

"I'm doing quite well, thank you very much," Victoria responded, happy to see someone who was naturally nice for once. She hadn't met Laura personally before now, but what she heard about her gave her a somewhat good impression, especially when hearing about how she'd shuffled from home to home as a child and had grown up to become a well-respected female sergeant. And then, of course, she was studying History, so as Elaine had suggested, they'd be able to have some interesting conversations together.

"Now you certainly have the look of a private school teacher," Laura teased in a friendly way, reminding Victoria of how Jamie would do just the same many years before. "When I showed up in my military uniform the first time I went to St. Teresa's for a meeting, I got all these strange looks from the nuns and students."

"Was it really because you weren't dressed properly enough, or could it have been that they don't trust members of the military?" Victoria asked, meaning to take the matter a little too lightly, yet immediately regretted saying this. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to sound…"

"Don't worry about it," Laura said. "I don't expect people to trust me that much upon first meeting me. These nuns in particular had every right to be, since many of them are self-proclaimed pacifists. The actual history teacher whom I worked with had been involved in the peacekeeping efforts in Northern Ireland, so it wasn't that easy getting her to trust me. However, once they got to know me better, I became a friend to many of them. Of course, it helps that I never kill anyone while I was on active duty." She said that last part with an awkward laugh.

"Well, what are you thinking of doing once you finish your university studies?" Victoria asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I was thinking of either going on to law school or getting some work archiving in a museum if law school didn't work out. I mean, I like the work with students I've done through this program, but directing a group of students in learning just feels so different from leading people in combat for some reason. At least when you're a sergeant, you know your job is to direct your fellow soldiers through whatever situation you may be in, and you've received a lot of training for what you're supposed to do. As a teacher, it may seem easier to people because no one's life is your hands, but you have to know the best way to help young people learn. They don't all love the subject you're teaching, and none of the training teachers get really prepares for how to reach out to those students who may not learn well through lectures and notes."

"I see what you mean," Victoria said. This was something that she had often thought about when she was completing her studies, but which never got enough attention from her professors. How to help your students get good letter grades and test scores seemed to matter more to them than actually getting them to actually learn and enjoy the material. Although Victoria often made an effort to get her students more interested by showing films, talking about how the works they read could relate to contemporary issues of interest, and even having them acting out the plays they read, but somehow, she always felt there was more she could do other than this which she wasn't taking into consideration.

"What made you interested in teaching, Victoria?" Laura asked.

Victoria smiled. "This is probably going to sound very silly to you, but when I was younger, I always thought about the children I'd have someday. By the time I was nine, I had already decided what I'd name them, where I would raise them and send them to school, and how many I would have, which was seven. I even thought I knew what their personalities would be like."

Laura laughed. "You had no idea what you would have been setting yourself up for back then. My father grew up in a family of five boys who moved around a lot more than we did, and he always tells me how much work it was for his parents."

"So anyway, things took a turn for the worse when I was fifteen and my father died," Victoria went on, trying to remain as honest as possible about her past. "After that, all my plans for the future were completely shattered, and I had to think things over. I still loved working for people and taking on more nurturing roles whenever I could, so after facing a couple more struggles, I finally decided to settle on teaching."

"And it's worked out for you so far, hasn't it?"

"Yes. I love it and wouldn't trade it for any other work in the world."

And this was true. Victoria didn't know what really made her decide to stick with the profession for good; whether it was her days as a disc jockey who ended up becoming surprisingly popular among the college students who requested all the music she played, or her brief time in Japan, where she'd looked after nearly all the children of some busy farmers in a small village, or perhaps just her studies in Ontario, where she interacted with many young people on a daily basis. However, she had little regrets in settling in as an English teacher, and many of her students really liked her and her lessons, telling her that she could make something as dull as Shakespeare or Hardy actually seem interesting for once. Of course, it helped that she once had one of the most eccentric and fun teachers any teenager could have, and she even gave small stories about him during her lessons (although she never revealed the truth about who he was and where she'd met him, of course, saying that he was her old sixth form Chemistry teacher).

"Is there a problem?" she heard Laura asking. However, upon regaining her focus, Victoria noticed that she wasn't speaking to her, but to Elaine, who was lingering around the background and listening to their conversation.

"Nothing," Elaine said, sounding as if she were lying. "I was just waiting until you two were ready to step in and meet up with Mrs. Tyler."

"Why are you giving her a newspaper which is two days old? Don't you think she would want the most current edition?" Laura asked, looking over the paper which Elaine was still holding.

"She hasn't gotten one since her first day, so we thought it was best for her to get updated on anything she could have missed," Elaine responded hastily.

Victoria tried to get a glimpse of it, and upon getting a good look at the front cover, she realized why this paper appeared to be so questionable:

Young Woman Found Murdered In Her Flat. Identity of Killer Still Unknown


	28. Chapter 28

"Hold it right there," Laura said, taking the newspaper away from Elaine. "You can't just hand this over to Mrs. Tyler. There's some news here which will be of major concern to her, and she deserves an explanation for it."

"An explanation? What do you mean, Laura?" Victoria asked, although she had a feeling that she understood what she meant. A couple days before, she'd had a nightmare where she found a dead woman in the bathroom of a random house, and then heard the voice of a girl calling out for help. However, whenever she tried looking around for the girl, she wasn't able to find her, seeing only the gruesome body of the dead woman. Upon waking up, she couldn't remember what had been so terrifying about her dream, and settled on thinking that it must have been another nightmare on being attacked by Deleks or Cybermen. However, she then saw a news report of the murder of a young woman in her flat, where she'd lived all alone, which triggered back her memories of the awful dream. Could it be that this was the news Laura was referring to, since it had been reported exactly two days before?

"That's none of your concern, Laura," Elaine responded firmly. "As I'm sure Truman has already told you dozens of times, guests and visitors are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of employees. Whatever trouble Mrs. Tyler is facing, I'm sure that she can handle it on her own, without some woman she barely knows getting involved."

"Well, this isn't any ordinary trouble," Laura said angrily. "One of Mrs. Tyler's friends was involved in a serious crime which I happened to be a witness of. I believe that gives me every right to inform her on what happened."

"I'm sorry, but that still doesn't give you permission to do so unless you inform Truman first," Elaine said, just as insistent as she was before. "Now, would you please hand the newspaper back to me and let me…?"

Just then, Victoria flung an arm around Elaine's back, shoving her right into the floor and grabbing the newspaper as she went down.

"Let's get in, Laura!" she then yelled, grabbing the handle of the door and flinging the door open, letting herself and Laura in before Elaine could get up.

"That's it!" they heard her screaming once they were in and the door was shut. "I'm reporting both of you to Truman; maybe that will make you two sorry for being such dreadful visitors."

Upon hearing this, Victoria looked scared, temporarily regretting what she'd just done. "Oh, no. Laura, do you believe she's serious? I didn't want to provoke this much trouble, I just got…"

"Don't worry too much, Victoria," Laura said with a chuckle as she clasped a hand over Victoria's shoulder. "I don't believe Truman could kick us out of Northern Horizons for what could come off as a little misunderstanding if we're convincing enough. Besides, what you did to Elaine was just hilarious; something I would have been willing to do myself if I was bold enough. I never thought you were that physically strong."

Victoria couldn't help but laugh a little despite her unease. "I never realized I was that strong either! Perhaps my dislike of Elaine got a little out of hand and I just had to stand up to her one way or another. After all, I did witness an awful lot of physical matches at one point in my life, so I must have picked up a lot more on fighting then I realized at the time."

"Do you happen to have brothers?" Laura asked. "I have two, so I both saw and took part in more than enough faux wrestling matches growing up. Helped me a lot later on, as you can probably tell by my professional choices."

"I don't, unfortunately," Victoria responded. "What I saw mainly came from male friends who helped me a lot when I lost my father. Actually, come to think of it, only one of them was really into fighting. My other friend was more of what you'd call a pacifist; didn't believe in getting into fights to solve conflict. He preferred to use his wit to bring anyone down anyone who caused us any trouble."

"Sounds like this friend of yours was a pretty clever chap," Laura remarked with a smile.

"He was. Both of my friends were, actually, but in very different ways," Victoria said nostalgically.

It was then that they heard a little girl calling out, "Mummy! Mummy, they're here! Miss Benton and Miss Harris are here!"

Victoria suddenly looked startled. _That voice. It sounds strangely familiar,_ she thought. _Where could I have possibly…?_

She then recalled the eerie voice from her dream, calling out for help in such an innocent, helpless way even though Victoria wasn't able to get even a small glimpse of her. Could this possibly be the girl, and if so, how had she'd been able to…?

"Victoria, are you okay?" Laura asked in a concerned voice. "You're looking a little nervous again."

"Oh, it's nothing," Victoria lied. "I was just startled by the girl's voice, that's all."

"Well, that girl's Rose Tyler, who's Jackie Tyler's daughter," Laura explained, and then smiled as she saw the delighted little girl run up to her. "Why, hi there, Rose," she told her, shaking her hand. "My name is Laura, and it's nice to finally be meeting you. And this here is Victoria Harris. Do you mind if I ask how you knew both our names already?"

"Mummy told me," Rose answered, sounding to Victoria as if she too was trying to hold back the truth. However, none of this was evident in her facial expression, since she smiled and then reached her hand out to Victoria, saying in a very sweet voice, "Hello, Miss Harris. My name is Rose Tyler, and it's a pleasure to meet you today."

Victoria smiled, shaking her hand warmly as she said, "Hello to you too, Rose. I happen to be a teacher, so I always love getting the chance to meet children." Never mind the fact that teaching teenagers was awfully different from teaching young children, although Victoria still liked meeting younger children as much as she did while growing up the nineteenth century.

"Do you teach at one of the schools where teachers live in the school?" Rose asked.

Victoria laughed. "No, Rose; I teach at a private day school, where students are there for pretty much the same amount of time as they are in public schools. However, you must be thinking of boarding schools. That's where children actually live within the school, although teachers there usually get the chance to return to their homes after teaching for the day. But the group which Laura and me are a part of does have a couple of boarding school teachers in it, so you might get the chance to meet one of them."

"Cool!" Rose said excitedly. "I mean, I like being able to meet you, but Mummy already told me that I'd be meeting teachers that are very different from the one I have at my school. She said that some of them are doctors, vicars, nuns, and even soldiers."

"I actually happen to be one of the soldiers, Rose, although I'm not actually a teacher," Laura chimed in. "But your mum is right about the group having many kinds of teachers, including some who are religious sisters, in ministry, or with a doctoral degree, which is the highest level of education a person is able to have. However, I think there actually is a lieutenant from a military academy who is part of it as well, isn't that right, Victoria?"

"Yes, Laura," Victoria answered. "It's Sergeant Lieutenant Jordon Wills from the London Military Academy for Boys. I'm surprised you weren't already aware of that."

"As someone who's mainly part of the group as an advisor, I don't get the full details of every member, Victoria," Laura explained.

Then, they saw Jackie Tyler walking in, looking more formal than they'd ever seen her before with a navy blue buttoned blouse, dark trousers, brown boots, her blonde hair tied up in a neat bun, and her face covered in makeup which hid all the traces of stress and fatigue they'd noticed before. In some ways, she looked like an older version of Elaine and Sandy with that appearance, yet there was no trace of their strict adherence to authority in the way she acted towards them right now, shaking both their hands and saying, "Hi there, you two. It's good to see that you've finally gotten the chance to meet each other."

"Oh yes, Jackie," Victoria said. "It's been a lovely experience for us both, indeed."

Jackie laughed. "Have you been able to get accustomed to Victoria's rather formal way of speaking yet, Laura?"

"Actually, being a part of the military, I'm used to hearing formal speech all the time, so it's nothing for me," Laura answered cheerfully. "It looks like Victoria and I are becoming good friends so far, Jackie."

"That's great to hear!" Jackie said. "Now, where should we start?"

Victoria gave Laura a knowing expression, reminding her of what they were originally intending to do. Laura nodded slowly in response, with both of them failing to notice the curious glances they were getting from Rose, who appeared to have some sort of strange understanding that something was possibly going wrong.

"Jackie, there's something we need to tell you," Laura said with a serious expression.

Jackie looked back at her worriedly. "What is it, Laura. Is it something bad?"

"I'm afraid so," Laura said. Then, taking a deep breath, she went on, saying, "I've been living next door to your friend Hannah for several months. Since last month, I noticed that something must have been going wrong with her, because she stopped leaving her flat and started spending most of time just lying down in bed or on the couch. Sometimes, she didn't want anyone coming in to see her, insisting that she was too sick to talk to anyone. And if she did let people in, she would go on about how depressed and scared she was feeling all the time, and how she sometimes as if she just couldn't go anymore."

Jackie shook her head as she listened to this, looking as if she was on the verge of tears. "Oh, God," she said in a sad voice. "I knew there must have been something wrong with her! And there I was, thinking that she must have gone back to work and moved on from this whole mess I got her into. But no," and she then had terrified expression on her face. "Something happened to her, isn't that right? Did she start injuring herself, or did she attempt to…"

"Even worse," Laura responded, shaking her head sadly. "You can read about it here if you'd rather see for yourself." She then held up the newspaper, which Jackie grabbed a hold of right away, walking up to the desk to sit down and read this. Laura looked sadly in Victoria's direction, who looked just as unhappy about it. Victoria then put an arm around Rose's shoulder, since she looked as if she was about to start crying herself.

Rose soon looked Victoria straight in the face, with tears already running through her eyes. "Victoria, is Hannah dead?" she asked nervously.

Victoria hesitated for a while, wondering whether it was best to hold back this information, as adults sometimes did when they thought the truth was too much for children to handle, or to be straight forward with her. However, there was something about Rose's expression which gave off the fact that she already knew the answer to her own question; that she only wanted confirmation from another person so she'd be aware that this was all real. She also hated deliberately hiding important information from young people, making sure to be truthful about her student's skills without discouraging them from trying a little harder if it was needed or convincing the students who did well that they were geniuses.

As a result, Victoria went ahead and said it: "Yes, dear," she whispered softly. "She is dead."

And at that exact moment, she heard Jackie starting to let out heavy, uncontrollable sobs. "No!' she cried out. "How could it be? Who could possibly have wanted to murder Hannah? She was just an innocent woman who'd never meant to do any harm to anyone!"

Laura walked up to her and put her arms around her. "I'm so sorry, Jackie," she said in an attempt to console her. "But these things can happen to anyone, regardless of what they may have done."

Jackie didn't say anything, but went on crying and clinging to Laura. There was no way she could have explained what happened, how she'd gotten Hannah involved in the death of a young couple, how the two of them had been able to get away without being physically harmed, yet faced endless emotional torment ever since, even being haunted by some strange being or force. No, it was best to leave her responsibility for Hannah's death aside for a while and just face the moment for now; let all the pain out and then examine what had caused all this to happen.

Rose, meanwhile, looked gravelly at Victoria "Did you already know about this?" she asked.

"Well, I…" Victoria started, wondering what she should tell the girl.

"Because I think you had a nightmare about it the night it happened," Rose went on, leaving Victoria feeling shocked. "I dreamed about it too, but I forgot that I did until I saw you two coming here with the newspaper."

"How do you know that I dreamed about it?" Victoria asked, believing that what she'd originally suspected about this girl understanding more about this situation than she could ever know must have been true all along. But how exactly she did this was what she wanted to find out, as well as why they both forgot about the dream after waking up.

Rose suddenly looked nervous, and started staring at the floor with an anxious expression on her face. "I don't know," Victoria could hear her mumbling to herself. "I don't know, I don't know!"

Victoria then placed her arm around Rose's shoulder, sorry about how she'd wanted to get too much information out of her just a while before. "Listen," she said gently, "if you don't want to tell me about it, I understand. This situation is scary enough as it is, and I don't want to make it any harder for you by forcing you to tell me things you're not comfortable with."

Rose then shock her head and looked at her again, saying, "No, I can't do that. I have to tell you the truth, even if you won't believe me."

"If you do want to go ahead and tell me, you don't have to worry about me not believing you," Victoria reassured her. "I've seen many unusual things over the years, and had to deal with people who simply refused to believe anything I told them. I don't want to behave the same way towards you."

"Okay," Rose answered, sounding a little less scared. "I think I know what you mean. So, the truth is that I'm able to…"

But before she could continue on, Michael Truman burst into the room, clearly outraged over what Elaine must have told him. "Laura, Victoria," he said in the sternest tone anyone in that room had ever heard him use before. "I want you both out of this hotel right now. I will be going over this situation later on with all my workers, and will decide on the best course of action for the teacher's group party. But as of now, what I heard from Elaine is one the most appalling reports I've heard of a visitor's conduct towards employees. I find it best for you two to go right now before you cause any more emotional harm to Mrs. Tyler and her daughter, and I'll call you both on our decision within a couple of days."

"This is ridiculous!" Laura protested. "I wanted to inform Mrs. Tyler over what had happened to her friend, and I'm pretty sure that if you had let me speak with her before, this would never have happened!"

"She's right," Jackie said, trying to back her up. "She was telling me about…"

"Jackie, you can tell me later about this, Truman said. Then, looking sharply at Laura and Victoria, he said, "As of you two, neither of you has any right to speak on behalf of yourselves, since it will be used against you later on. Now, get out of my hotel this instant, or I'll call the police and report you both for harassment and assault!"

Laura and Victoria, realizing he was serious, then started running out of there as fast as they could, with little Rose looking at them in dismay, and Jackie now going from severely saddened to staring angrily at Truman, as if just now realizing how awful he really was.

Once they made it outside, Victoria took a seat on the nearest bench and started quietly crying, covering her face so that Laura wouldn't see how upset she really was. However, Laura was soon by her side, putting an arm around her and saying, "It's all right, Victoria. Truman's just being a ridiculous old ass; I don't believe anyone other than the two blonde clones will be taking him seriously if he really is going be consulting every Northern Horizons employee on what we did."

"No, you don't understand, Laura," Victoria sobbed. "When I first saw Truman, I thought there was something unusual about him, but because he was so charming and polite, I was thinking that maybe he was just a little uptight. But now I realize that I was wrong, that there's nothing normal about his insistence on strict obedience. If anything, it could even be a sign of madness, and this is all my fault for not knowing better!"

"Oh, don't go too far on it, Victoria," Laura said. "Yeah, I have seen cases like this with fellow soldiers who went overboard on how controlling they were, but their problem was usually having too big of an ego on account of their positions. If Truman were truly mad, he might have accused us of something more far-fetched, like conspiring to hurt Jackie or bring ruin to his hotel, or he could have physically threatened us, perhaps literally throwing us out into the road. What he did was problematic, but perhaps some of his more sane employees could talk some sense into him."

"I hope you're right," Victoria said, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief which she carried with her at all times just in case her old blubbering habits returned. Then, she gave a small chuckle and said, "Oh, look at me, crying like a baby because Michael Truman went overboard on us. You must think I'm acting ridiculous, don't you, Laura?"

"Maybe a little," Laura said, laughing and patting Victoria's shoulder. "But I don't blame you for being afraid of him. Truman's scared me more than once already, and he certainly did a good job of it today, so don't think you were the only one he managed to scare. However, once he has his ego checked by the people who know him best, I think he'll start cleaning up his act a little. So, put the insane hotel owner theories aside for a little while and wait and see what he decides to do with us. I'm sure he'll be reasonable by then."

Victoria smiled. "Thank you for the reassurance, Laura."

"No problem, Victoria," Laura said. "And thank you for standing up to the old clone a while ago. I don't think I'll ever forget that anytime soon, and you should think about it too before calling yourself a baby again."

The two of them laughed, enjoying each other's company so much that even Victoria stopped worrying about what Truman had just done.

"So," Laura then said, looking at her watch. "It's close to noon, and I told my Uncle John that I'd be coming over to his place for dinner. So, if you had nothing to do right now, would you like to come with me, Victoria?"

"Of course!" Victoria said, looking delighted. "It would be a pleasure to have company for meals rather than having to eat alone whenever I'm not teaching."

"Well, in that case, I'm glad to be doing you a favor," Laura said smiling. "Perhaps you'll even be making a new friend in the process."

And the two of them walked over to Laura's car (Victoria took the bus around the city, never having learned to drive despite all the other things she'd learned to do in the twentieth century, so Laura offered her a ride home in addition to having dinner with her), thinking that at least something good came out of what had been a difficult day for the both of them.

 **Next, is Laura right? Will Truman's other employees, a large number of which we haven't met yet, be able to talk some sense into him, or will they be just as blindly devoted to him as Elaine and Sandy are? Will Jackie or Rose be able to do anything on behalf of Laura and Victoria, or will it take convincing from someone else for Truman to change his mind about what they'd just done?**


	29. Chapter 29

_Tough day, wasn't it?_ John Smith asked Rose once she'd been lying in bed restless for nearly an hour that night. Learning about what happened to Hannah along how Truman had kicked Laura Benton and Victoria Harris out of Northern Horizons had troubled both Rose and Jackie throughout the whole day, and even though Jackie had been able to sleep as soon as she went to bed after her full hour of writing (which she'd managed to do every day throughout their stay at Northern Horizons so far without failure), she was now endlessly mumbling while tossing and turning, a clear sign that she was having a troubling sleep, and Rose feared that it be the same for her if she fell asleep.

 _It sure was, John Smith_ Rose answered sadly. _But why didn't you tell me everything that I forgot about the vision, and why did you tell me that none of it would matter when it turned out to be completely real? You're supposed to tell me the truth about everything, so why did you have to start telling lies now?_

 _Now Rose, I never told you that it wouldn't matter, just that nothing in the vision could hurt you,_ John Smith explained in a patient tone. _Also, the reason you forgot it all is similar to why the night terrors children your age sometimes get forgotten: because remembering such frightening images would cause fear to the point of craziness due to not being able to understand how such bad things can be so real in the mind, so your mind erases all memory of these images upon waking up in order to protect you from further harm. Since this is the worst vision you've had so far, your mind reacted similarly as if you'd had a night terror for these exact reasons. Do you understand what I mean?_

 _I think so,_ Rose said, even though she was a little confused by parts of this explanation. _Now what about Victoria Harris? Why did she have a dream that was a lot like my vision even though I couldn't see her in it?_

Much to Rose's surprise, John Smith reacted to this by laughing. _Rose Tyler, I thought you'd become very good at recognizing my former friends at this point! Do you really mean to say that you spend all this time around Victoria and not once were you able to catch a thought on my second self?_

 _No,_ Rose responded, a lot more confused than she'd been before. _But why was that, John Smith? If I was able to tell really quickly that Harry Sullivan was your companion, then why couldn't I do the same with Victoria?_

 _My guess is that it was for reasons similar to why you couldn't do the same with Sarah Jane,_ John Smith started explaining once again. _You see, Victoria Waterfield was one of the youngest friends I ever had travelling with me. The only others I had who were as close to her age were either from other planets, from the future, or somewhat accustomed to modern technology already. Victoria, however, came from 1866 and had very little experience with modern technology apart from what her inventor father, who managed to invent an early version of the time machine, had shown her. As a result, her body wasn't able to fully absorb some of the radiation and other chemicals which time travels get exposed to in large, and often dangerous, amounts. With some of my friends, this has resulted in serious sickness after travelling with me, but with Victoria, the combination of being both young and inexperienced with modern technology resulted in her no longer being able to age after a certain point. Based on what I managed to see of her today, she probably stopped aging when she was about eighteen, which is probably the best case scenario. This means that part of the time traveling energy from the TARDIS remained a permanent part of her, which meant having some sort of connection to my power, and therefore, an ability to connect mentally with someone like you._

 _I see_ , Rose said. _And was there something going on with Laura, too?_

 _Not really, besides the fact that she's the niece of Sergeant John Benton, whom I knew from my years UNIT back in the seventies or eighties; I never can seem to remember when it was anymore. That, and also witnessing the death of poor Hannah Lewis. It's traumatized her quite a lot, even though she tried so hard not to show it. However, I'm very glad that you, your mum, and now Victoria have her by your side. She's every bit as resourceful and warm as her uncle is, and I believe she'll be willing to protect others just as much as he did._

 _That sounds good,_ Rose said. _But is it bad to stop aging, John Smith?_

 _Not completely. People who go through this are more likely to avoid many of the diseases and mental digression which come along with old age. However, some of the more difficult things about being a teenagers, like having many strong feelings and acting impulsively, still remain in place, which often make it difficult for these people to become socially and emotionally grown up. From what I was able to detect in Victoria, she seems to have doing quite well in many ways. She now speaks five languages, has had jobs in many different fields of work, has travelled to many countries, and has even read almost as many books as I have, which has probably helped her a lot as an English teacher. Now there's a friend who's certainly made progress since leaving me, and given how vulnerable and scared she was back when she traveled with me and Jamie McCrimmon, I couldn't be more proud of her._

 _But it hasn't been very easy for her either,_ Rose added in, not believing that Victoria had seemed that happy despite what she'd been able to accomplish.

 _That's right,_ John Smith said empathetically. _Victoria started traveling with me because her father had been killed by the Deleks, so things had been difficult for her from the start. And from what I detected today, the struggles didn't end after she found a home and got adopted. The family that took her in ended up rejecting her later on because they were convinced that she was ungrateful for all they'd done for her, when they actually refused to believe her when she shared her story with them. Once Victoria was on her own, although she sometimes managed to find friends or groups that made her feel welcomed and accepted, she almost always came home to an empty place, having to end most of her days coping with being alone, depressed, and having no one with whom she could share her biggest fears and sorrows. Add that with the fact that she's lost two close friends: one when she was a fisherwoman in Sweden after he drowned in a river while fishing, and then another during her days as a disk jockey in Brooklyn when he contacted the AIDS virus, and you can see that she's still had to deal with a handful of tragedies._

 _Poor Victoria,_ Rose said sympathetically. _Did you ever try finding her again later on?_

 _I did, actually, at the time when I was travelling with Nyssa around the early eighties, if I remember correctly. Like Victoria, Nyssa had also lost her family at the hands of one of my worst enemies, and from what I told her, she thought that Victoria was probably having a difficult life on account of having to transition to a completely different time period after having dealt with a serious loss, and suggested that meeting her would benefit us both after the death of Adric. As a result, we went to Brooklyn, ending up in the Golden Eagle night club where Victoria worked. Unfortunately, she only worked there during the weekends, so the disk jockey we ended up meeting that Wednesday evening was none other than the Looming Cloud, a dark being which targets night time hangouts, so that turned out becoming another confrontation with a monster rather than the happy reunion I was expecting, as is often my luck._

 _And is there anything you can do to help her now?_ Rose wanted to know.

 _I think there is, Rose,_ John Smith answered. _As a matter of fact, seeing how much I was able to figure about Victoria despite being confined to your mind, I might be able to take a couple risks and see how far I can go with my current communication methods, because I think there's someone who might be able to help you all if I can reach her in some way._

 _And who is that?_

 _You'll have to wait and see,_ John Smith said in a mischievous voice.

…

To say that Michael Truman had been deeply upset by the conduct of Laura Benton and Victoria Harris would have been an understatement. Not only had they made him angrier than he could ever recall being in his eleven years as the owner of Northern Horizons, but he felt as if they'd also downright insulted him, mocking the authority which had managed to keep both the staff and the hotel running smoothly and which allowed business to steadily increase over the years.

His mood must have been obvious through his appearance, since Nancy, a brunette who worked at the front desk accepting visitors and accepting fees, immediately looked worried upon seeing him enter. "Mr. Truman, is something wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Something is indeed very wrong," Truman replied firmly. "Yesterday, two visitors, both young women who happened to be part of the teachers' group which will coming in on Christmas Eve, caused chaos by informing Jackie about the tragic death of a friend during a very inappropriate time, and even assaulting Elaine by pushing her onto the floor so that they could get into the office more easily."

"Oh, God," Nancy said, shaking her head in disgust over what she'd just heard. "And you just let them get away with it?"

"I kicked them out, telling them that I'd be speaking with all of you to determine the past course of action," Truman explained.

"If I were you, Mr. Truman, I would have called the police!" Nancy exclaimed. "Allowing them to just go home without any consequences will convince them that they can easily return and cause even more trouble for you if they so choose. I saw how upset Jackie was yesterday as well, and I kept asking her if there was anything that I could do for her, and she responded by saying that perhaps I should speak with you since you were the one that caused her distress. Just imagine how manipulative those women must be if they convinced Jackie that you were the one intending to upset her, since we all know that everything you do for us is in our best interests; it even said so in our contracts."

"But the situation is tricky because at first, I was only having issues with one of the two women: Laura Benton, who is a Sergeant Lieutenant for the British Army. She'd apparently noticed that the friend who'd been murdered had been having emotional difficulties for weeks prior to her death. She kept insisting that she have a word with Jackie about it. Of course, I constantly reminded her of Northern Horizon's policy of noninterference in the personal affairs of employees from isn't a part of the staff, making it clear that it was in the best interest of everyone involved that we had such a policy in place. However, she kept bringing it up all the time, stubbornly insisting that I change my mind about it just because it all seemed so urgent to her.

"With Victoria Harris, on the other hand, I was indeed shocked to hear about her conduct. During my first meetings with her, she always gave off the impression of being a very polite and cooperative young lady, even a little old-fashioned, which always strikes me well. She never failed to give me a warm welcome or to apologize for her occasional mishaps, and always seemed to have something thoughtful to say; I was thinking that this was another Jackie Tyler for a while. There were times, however, when she did appear to be a little suspicious of what my intentions were. The first day, she probably asked me a dozen questions about my experience running the hotel and how I'd gotten along with my workers in the past. It had me a little worried for a while, but I didn't see anything harmful about wanting to know about these sorts of things: it's something every sensible visitor anywhere should do."

"Well, everything you said about Laura Benton appeared to be true to me. I've probably never encountered a more bothersome woman in my life. The fact that she's in the military is probably a big factor behind this," Nancy said. "However, I seemed to have gotten the complete opposite impression of Victoria Harris. The way I saw, everything about her appeared to be part of an act; from her ridiculously old-fashioned clothes that made her look like some lady in one of those old black and white pictures you have hanging in the hallways, to her overly polite attitude, as if she was trying a little too hard not to get on our bad side rather than just wanting to be courteous. And yes, she did ask a lot of questions, first among them being how old the hotel was, since she thought the furniture and decorations were too outdated. Of course, I told her that the hotel was probably as old as those ridiculously long gloves she was wearing, which managed to get her insulted enough to ask me why I was mocking her when all she wanted to know was…"

"Now, Nancy, you should know better than to insult a visitor, even if you did find her mannerisms to be a little too suspicious," Truman told her.

"I know, but I just couldn't help it," Nancy said with an unapologetic sneer. "That woman appeared to be nothing but a con artist to me. She doesn't even look like she's old enough to be a teacher."

'I wouldn't go so far as to believe that, although I do agree with you that Victoria may not be who she seems," Truman responded. "So, what do you really believe to be the best course of action?"

"If you think calling the police is taking it too far, then you may as well just ban them from the hotel for a good and make them have their party elsewhere," Nancy suggested. "I mean, how can you seriously considered having two women who assaulted one of our workers and traumatized another to…"

"Actually, Nancy, that suggestion sounds about as far -fetched as your last one," Allison chimed in, finally stepping into the conversation after having listened in for a while. "The way I see it, those two young ladies were very concerned over what happened to Jackie's friend and wanted her to hear about it from someone who understood what was going on, rather than being told by someone who was simply delivering news about something they'd only just heard about. If anything should be excepted from your strict rules, Truman, it should be situations like this."

"Allison, I have not asked for your opinion yet," Truman told her sternly. It always annoyed him when Allison acted as if she knew better on what he should do as owner just because she'd been working at Northern Horizons longer than he'd been. "When I'm finished speaking with Nancy, then you may tell me what you think."

"No, Truman. I already started, so now I'm going to finish," Allison responded firmly. "Haven't either of you taken into consideration what Laura and Victoria may have been thinking about all this? That maybe they thought Jackie was more likely to get upset if Elaine gave her news, seeing how she already appears to lack concern for the emotions of anyone other than you, Truman? She didn't even get that upset when she heard her cousin had died, so what makes you think she would have been more sympathetic towards Jackie?"

"In case you forgot the rules, Allison, our job isn't to be counselors for one another, but rather to keep each other informed on anything which might be a source of personal trouble," Nancy said, reminding Allison of part of their employment contracts. "If anything, we should avoid taking such manners too personally when we are required to take them; our purpose is to maintain as much order in Northern Horizons as possible, which isn't easy to do when you're allowing a fellow employee to cry on your shoulder instead of requiring them to get back to work immediately."

"Well, Nancy," Truman said, jumping the conversation once again, "While you're on the right track on everything you've been telling Allison so far, she does have a point when she says that Elaine often fails to show empathy for others. I spend full nights comforting my poor girlfriend after her sister died, and all Elaine could do was tell her to start putting on makeup because she was developing creases all around her face and that it was making her grief too obvious to other people. With that in consideration, the best course of action on Elaine's part would be to no longer put her in charge of delivering bad news to employees. As a matter of fact, I might leave such tasks to you in the future, Allison, seeing as how you seem to be much more understanding on such matters. How does that sound?"

"Mr. Truman, you can't be serious!" Nancy exclaimed. "Allison shows about as much empathy as…"

"I was not talking to you, Nancy," Truman told her with a frown. "I was speaking to Allison." Then, turning to Allison with a softer expression on his face, he said, "Now, Allison, does this sound like a good deal to you?"

"Seems like a descent plan, Truman," Allison responded with a nod. "However, it doesn't solve this whole situation. What are you intending to do to Laura and Victoria?"

"That's what I'm asking everyone else. Would you like to share your suggestion right now?" Truman asked, smiling.

"Of course. What I suggest is to just let those women be. If one of them really shoved Elaine, give them a small talk on not using physical force towards employees and make them promise not to it again, but also thank them for talking to Jackie about what happened to her friend, telling them that while it is usually against the rules for visitors to do this, that you still understand why they had to do it. The party can then go on as planned and everyone will be happy. Is that fair enough for you?"

"Sounds good, but first, I must see if the others feel the same as you do," Truman responded. However, for some reason, he was a lot more comfortable hearing Allison's response than he'd been when hearing Nancy's.

Many of the other responses Truman got from his other employees clearly showed that the majority of them didn't share similar views as Allison:

"If one of them shoved Elaine, then they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Northern Horizons again!" Abby Bush, who was a maid, said indignantly. "And for that matter, you should probably have a word with that teacher's group they're a part of. I'm familiar with them because my nephew attends a private secondary school on a scholarship sponsored by that group, and as a group that values compromise, they're not going to be very happy that one of their own took part in a fight with someone they were supposed to be working with."

"They weren't supposed to be working with Elaine though, but with me. Doesn't that change your opinion at all, Abby?" Truman said, deciding to challenge everyone else he spoke with to see if it

would cause them to see the situation differently.

"No; we all work with visitors in one way or another, so they should be able to get along with anyone, and a fight is a fight no matter who's involved," Abby responded.

Ruth Carlson, who was also a maid but closer to Elaine and Sandy's age, was more concerned over how they were interfering with Jackie's personal affairs. "I saw how upset Mrs. Tyler got yesterday, and how her poor little girl had gotten so scared as well. It's completely appalling that someone who doesn't even know them would cause them so much distress!" Yet, when suggesting what course of action Truman should take, she was less extreme in her thinking, saying, "The best thing you could do is either not allow them to come to the party or have them pay back Mrs. Tyler and Rose in some way."

"And how would you suggest they do this?" Truman asked, truly interested in how Laura and Victoria could still play some role in helping Jackie and Rose.

"They should apologize to them and offer to do something to ease their pain, like taking them out for tea or attending the funeral of her friend along with her. That's probably the best they could do for her if they must return here," Ruth responded.

Paul Islington, an old man who was the janitor, showed little interest in the situation, saying in thick cockney accent, "Just put an end to this whole party business once and for all. It's all a waste of time and money, if you ask me. That way you won't have to deal with anymore meddling from nosy women any longer."

"Do you see anything specific that was wrong about what Laura Benton and Victoria Harris were doing?" Truman asked him.

"That's just what all workers for those bleeding government programs like doing whenever they get the chance," Paul said dismissively. "I'm just surprised you didn't see any of this coming the moment you let the group use the hotel for their pathetic little party."

As a matter of fact, the only other employee who shared Allison's opinion was James Winters, a black man born in the Caribbean islands who was the hotel's cook. When Truman had started describing the situation to him, James told him that he was already aware of it because he'd been speaking with both Jackie and Rose about it not long after he'd left them alone the day before.

"And did they express any hard feelings towards either Laura Benton or Victoria Harris?" Truman asked him.

"None at all; if anything, they seemed grateful to have heard from them about the whole incident," James responded. "In fact, I believe I've seen both of these women myself, and I didn't see anything unlikeable. Victoria Harris appeared to have a very kind and polite personality, saying hello to me and asking me if I had planned the meals for the party yet. And Laura Harris is probably one of the friendliest military personal I've ever met, joking around and treating me more fairly than I've ever thought a former soldier was capable of doing.

"So, what's your suggestion for what I should do with them?" Truman asked with somewhat less urgency than he'd had towards the others. He liked and respected James a lot, perhaps because he was both loyal to him but still seemed to think more broadly on manners, something which many of his other employees failed to do.

"For one thing, don't be too hard on them," James said with a friendly smile. "I don't think these two young ladies should be punished for what they believed was the right thing to do in this particular situation, even if what Victoria did to Elaine was going a little overboard. You should just have them apologize to Elaine and give them a small talk on what's usually expected from visitors here at Northern Horizons. Afterwards, you could bring up how Jackie appreciates what they did for her and Rose and then thank them for having decided to take action in what was obviously a difficult situation."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan to me, James, but let me just tell you that your views aren't shared by the majority of the Northern Horizons staff," Truman told him.

"Are you serious?" James asked with a laugh. "Are Nancy and all the others having a bad day or something, because I never thought they'd be supportive of taking such drastic measures against Laura and Victoria."

"I think they're being their usual loyal selves, which both impresses and scares me," Truman said honestly.

After talking with James, Truman walked around the hotel lobby by himself, taking everything into consideration. Upon thinking closely about the situation, he didn't really know the best course of action. For one thing, seeing how Elaine had been so upset over what Victoria had done to her had infuriated him, and seeing Jackie crying in the office with Laura by her side had made it worse. At that time, the disorder Laura and Victoria had caused amongst his employees had seemed so terrible that Truman could think of nothing more reasonable to do than to kick the two of them out. It was best to take drastic measures in order to put a stop to disorder than to take no action and let it get worse, as Truman liked thinking over such matters.

But then again, it almost as if he wasn't the one taking action in that situation. As superstitious as it may sound, Truman honestly recalled feeling as if someone or something were constantly nudging him on the shoulder, urging him to throw the ladies out before their interference caused some form of unspeakable chaos. He'd felt something similar when he'd interacted with that nice doctor who came in with his young patients, but at the time, he'd been able to resist this force, thinking that as suspicious as it may seem for a doctor coming into a hotel with young girls, that there was most likely nothing bad going on between them. However, with Laura and Victoria, the warnings he got from this force felt stronger, and he actually felt as if he might be pushed onto the floor like Elaine was if he didn't get out there and put a stop it all as soon as possible…

"Excuse me?" he heard someone whispering over his shoulder. It was a young woman with short dark hair wearing a dark jumpsuit which looked like something someone would wear in a sci-fi movie.

"Yes? Could I help you in some way?" Truman asked, going into business mode once again.

"I'm planning on spending the night here, and I'd like someone to escort me to my room," the woman said politely.

"Well, you've come to the right person," Truman said with a smile, turning around to face her. "As the owner of Northern Horizons, I know this place almost as well as…"

Just then, he felt some form of powder being dropped around his face, causing the place to go completely blurry within seconds. And almost as quickly, he found himself getting so dizzy that he fell onto the floor with a thud, asking himself what was going on before losing all consciousness.


	30. Chapter 30

Once he regained his consciousness, Truman found himself strapped to a canopy bed, with his hands and legs tied up with a long, steel-colored rope which actually felt as if it was made out of steel, something which he knew that he'd never seen before despite the weariness of his mind at the moment.

"Hello?" he called out in an angry voice. "Whoever did this, you'd better reveal yourself right now or you'll be in serious trouble once I get out of here!"

"I'm afraid, Truman, that unless you're willing to make some serious compromises at this moment, you may not be able to leave my sight any time soon," the dark, chilling voice of the woman who'd sprayed him said in response, striding slowly up to him. Upon looking at her closely however, Truman noticed that despite her dangerously criminal behavior, there was something very youthful yet wise about her facial expression. She looked like a curious teenager who'd been lured into wrongdoing by a corrupt crowd, and whom despite a deep understand of how her actions were affecting others, had no choice but to proceed with the mission she'd been assigned.

However, Truman knew he couldn't buy into it that easily, and so he demanded sharply, "Could you at least have the courtesy of telling me your name and why you had to knock me out and tie me up as if I were a criminal?" As any thinking man knew, appearances, however convincing they were, could often be deceiving.

The woman gave him a cold stare, almost as if she were attempting to silence him and prevent him from asking further questions. Then, she said, "If you really want to know the truth, I'm someone who's not from this world. I've witnessed a large amount of danger in the world where I'm from, and I'm here to help out someone who's very close to me who left that world a while ago."

Truman laughed. "You're not from this world? Well then, unless you can escort me to your UFO or show me an actual laser beam, I'm going to assume you really must be bonkers!"

"I'm not going to put up with any mocking!" the woman shouted angrily. "If you're just going to make fun of me, don't expect me to go easy on you! What I just told you is the complete truth about myself, and if you don't want to believe me, we're in for a very hard time."

"And if you want to go on telling me crazy stories, then don't expect much cooperation on my part, young lady," Truman responded in a snarky tone. "I expect everyone I work with to take me seriously, and from what I've seen of you so far, you're not only making fun of me, but also endangering me. If there's anything you must know about this world, if I must buy into your ridiculous alien story, it's that this sort of behavior can result in serious criminal charges if the authorities find out about it."

The woman glared at him for a while, but then, as if noticing for the first time the full extent of this man's devastation, her expression appeared to soften a little, and she started slowly inhaling and exhaling in what seemed like an attempt to calm herself.

"Mr. Truman, I'm perfectly aware of the legal risks involved in what I'm doing," she said when finally speaking up, "And believe me when I say that I don't want to hurt you. The problem here is that someone I care really deeply about has been in your hotel for a while now, and even senses something dangerous in here."

Truman sighed. "Young lady, I'm afraid 'sensing' isn't enough for me to see a possible problem around the corner. If you ask me, to sense something just means you believe you're detecting a problem despite seeing little evidence for one around you, something which may just be a small inconvenience in some cases or full blown superstition in others. Can you tell me at least one thing which this friend of yours has seen going on in my hotel which should cause me to be more aware of what may be happening?" If he wasn't in so much panic over what this woman was going to do to him, he may have been more willing to accept her answer. After all, he could have been reassured that he wasn't the only one going through some strange sensations. However, since she'd gone as far as she did and could only explain her actions by saying that a friend sensed something, this left him feeling just as frustrated and suspicious as before.

The woman then seemed a little panicked, remaining silent through what must have been an attempt to think of the right way to respond to Truman's urgent question. Then, perhaps because she couldn't think of anything else to say, she said, "That little girl, Rose Tyler, has been in a deep state of panic ever since she's come here, with this scared look on her face when she walks around the hotel and then having nightmares when she goes to sleep at night."

Upon hearing this, a look of clarification spread across Truman's face. "So, are you trying to say that you're here on account of Jackie Tyler? Quite an unstable set of people she must spend time with, in that case, seeing as how her friend had a nervous breakdown shortly before her murder, and now you coming in here as if you were a secret agent in an action movie. So, hear me out: children often have a hard time adapting to new situations in life, in case you've forgotten. It would surprise me if Little Rose wasn't at least a little nervous about moving into a new home. And as for nightmares, everyone has them from time to time. Rose may be having some now, but so have I at certain times, and I'm pretty sure you've had them too."

"I understand, but when the fear is so frequent, as frequent as the nightmares, then I believe you have every good reason to believe that something is going very wrong. This was the situation with me more than once when I was younger, especially when I left my world for the first time about twenty-nine years ago now, and this friend of mine…"

"Can't you just say Jackie Tyler?" Truman asked, sounding angry once again.

"But it's not her I'm talking about!" the woman said with just as much frustration. "If you want to understand what I mean, why not just take a closer look at your surroundings and tell if you ever recall being inside this chamber before?"

Truman reluctantly did as she said, and for a while, was left speechless, noticing that this was a room which he'd never recalled setting foot in at any time. The walls were painted sky blue, and were flawless in a way which none of the other walls in the hotel appeared to be, without any cracks or dark stains visible in any part of it. There was also one of those lamps which Truman had noticed appearing to be everywhere in the photos of Northern Horizon's archives dating from the 1910s through 30s, and all of the furniture, from the wardrobe (which actually looked a lot like the one in Jackie and Rose's bedroom) to the long rows of bookshelves, looked almost as old as it did. One of the books on the desk was titled _The Best British Plays of 1924_ , with a brown cover along with binding and typography which was clearly dated, yet none of the pages seen around the book's ridges were either yellow or green from age, looking as if it'd just recently been bought.

In addition, right next to the book was a black and white photo featuring a large group of young adults who looked as if they couldn't be older than thirty, wearing either light-colored suits or old-fashioned yet very loose and light dresses. Everyone was smiling, with some holding up glasses of what must have been liquor as high as they could. At the bottom of it, someone had written in black ink: _New Year's Eve at Northern Horizons: 1924._ Like the books beside it, the picture looked as if it hadn't aged a bit over the years, without a single crease or trace of yellow to indicate that this was a picture from the past.

"Everything here seems so dated, and yet so new," Truman said, finally saying what had been on his mind the whole time.

"You're correct," the woman said. "Now, to answer my question…"

"No," Truman answered hastily, having forgotten the question on account of his astonishment. "I don't recall having been in this room in all my time working here."

But then, he thought, _How can you be so sure you're still in Northern Horizons? For all you know, she could have just kidnapped you and placed you in an old room that closely resembles one of the many rooms in the hotel._

However, how would that explain the Northern Horizons photo, the lamp, and being able to the see the exact same sights through the window as he was able to see in the hotel every day?

"If you're having doubts as to where you are," the woman said, as if she had a sense of what he was thinking, "You better look through the door, since you'll find a very familiar room through it." She then walked slowly towards the blue door, and upon opening it up halfway through, Truman was able to see the purple walls, oval-shaped tables covered with white cloth, and large piano which formed the ballroom of Northern Horizons. And to make things even stranger, he saw an old phonograph being played in the center of the room, which was playing a lively jazz number that sounded a little familiar to Truman from his time in New Orleans about a decade ago.

"Does it look familiar?" the woman asked, despite looking as if she already knew the answer.

"It's the Northern Horizons ballroom, where we're about to hold a Christmas party," Truman responded. "And yet, I still don't understand any of this. How is it that…?"

"You're right once again," the woman said, ignoring the fact that he was about to ask a question. "And seeing as how you've been a little more cooperative, I'm going to untie you for now, but you must promise to continue on behaving like this. If you start giving me even the slightest degree of trouble…"

"I promise not to be difficult," Truman said, not even wanting to consider the consequences of upsetting her once again.

"All right," the woman responded, putting her hand into the pocket of her trousers and looking as if she were shuffling through more than he was capable of seeing. After a couple of seconds, she pulled out a silver-colored screwdriver.

"Now what are you thinking of doing with that?" Truman wanted to know.

"Watch and learn," the woman said with a small smile. She then pointed the screwdriver towards the rope with which Truman was tied up, and a strange sound was heard, sounding like something you'd hear from a machine generating in a science fiction movie. Then, golden light started glowing through the tip of the screwdriver, and within seconds, the rope was untied, flowing up in the air as it came off. Once it was completely off, the woman grabbed it tightly, tied it into a neat ribbon, and placed it into her pocket along with her screwdriver as easily as if they were coins or marbles.

"That was incredible!" Truman said in astonishment, rubbing his numb hands. "How were you able to get a hold of such technology?"

"Like I said before, I'm not from this world, so I've been able to get my hands on all sorts of gadgets which people like you have yet to see," the woman answered with a grin, now looking much more like the curious and innocent young woman which Truman had originally assumed she might have been.

"I don't know if I can believe the part about you being from another world, but I do believe that you might come from some society which might have more advanced technology than we do here in the UK," Truman told her, managing to crack a little smile himself.

"And where do you think such a place would be? Japan? Germany? Some remote island in the Pacific?" the woman asked playfully. "You really don't understand the point of me bringing up this secret room, do you?"

"Would it kill you to tell me, though?" Truman asked.

"It wouldn't, thankfully," the woman replied. "So, as you noticed, despite setting foot in Northern Horizon's ballroom over a dozen times, you failed to notice that not only was there a secret room in here which remains invisible to the majority of the hotel's workers and visitors. One of the reasons for this is because the room's been trapped in time, with all these old artifacts from the 1920s remaining as new as they were sixty-eight years ago."

"Yes, I believe that's obvious," Truman responded.

"In the same way, that's how it's been with many of the dangers and forces present in this hotel. They're present here at all times, and yet only a few individuals will ever become aware of them. And this friend whom I've brought up earlier is one of those forces," the woman explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Truman demanded. "Are you trying to say that your friend is that being I've been feeling that's been forcing me to act more harshly than I normally would?"

"No, that's not him," the woman said. "My friend has remained visible to Rose Tyler only, and he's far from being a villain. If anything, he may just be capable of saving this hotel from the demise which it could be facing very soon."

"What kind of demise would that be, and why now of all times? I've been running this place to the best of my ability, and in comparison to the past, there have been very few serious incidents occurring in this hotel ever since I became the owner," Truman said.

"You may not have been able to see the force with your eyes, but I understand that you've somehow been able to feel it, based on what you just told me. In some ways, it's actually able to work at its' best during stable periods when enough guests are coming in and the right amount of money is being made. At the time of the caretaker who murdered his daughters, no other employees fell under the force's influence, so in some ways, that was actually a preferable situation than what you're facing right now. Before that, there was another time when the hotel faced such serious circumstances, and that was during its peak in 1924 and 25. Are you familiar with…?

"Yes; a woman committed suicide one hour before 1925 began, just as they were having one of the biggest parties Northern Horizons had ever hosted," Truman cut it. "According to the papers, the only person who was able to hear her screams moments after she shot herself in a bathtub was a maid who'd been watching over the place all alone; the music, based on her testimony, was so loud that she'd almost failed to hear it herself. But because of the popularity of the hotel at the time, only two small newspapers reported the story on account of how the owner feared that the incident would affect future business."

"And as a result, Northern Horizons continued to prosper into the Depression. As the British got poorer, the hotel seemed to keep getting richer, but not without a handful of tragedies associated with it," the woman continued, with the dark look from before returning.

Truman nodded. A number of suicides and insanity cases had been reported amongst visitors, sometimes within months after visiting the hotel. However, there had never been any evidence of something strange going on Northern Horizons, so the fact that they were all connected with it was usually dismissed as a coincidence, and until a while ago, Truman had been convinced of this as well.

And it was at that moment, with his eyes darting towards that woman's dark expression, that he heard the haunting voice from before echoing through his head: _Get her out, get her out right now!_

But how could he? If the woman was just warning him about past incidents that had occurred in the hotel and how they tended to repeat themselves, then why should he…?

 _Have you lost your senses, man? These events can't be anything more than coincidences. You've known this all along; it's just now that this bitch has come along that you're buying into this superstitious nonsense._

No, something had to be going on with this place. Otherwise, why had all these strange incidents occurred throughout the years, why was he feeling so strangely, and why was he capable of hearing this voice in the first place?

And then, just as he was thinking about this, the woman started shaking, and she pressed her hands into her temples with a low groan. "Oh, my head," she muttered. "It hurts so badly."

"What's going on?" Truman asked with concern, and reaching out his hand to her. "Can I help you in any way?"

 _You stay away from her!_ The voice demanded furiously. _She's caused you enough trouble already, so if she comes down, it's all the better for you and the hotel. Remember to put prosperity before all else, just as all those before have, no matter at what cost it comes._

Just then, the woman's groaning started increasing, and she found herself nearly tripping, and would have fallen to the floor if she hadn't gotten a hold of the bedpost. Truman tried to come up and help her, but he couldn't on account of the feeling that someone (the invisible being, most likely), had taken a strong grip on his shoulder, forcing him to stay to remain where he was.

"No!" the woman cried. "Leave me alone! Why should you hurt me if I haven't intended to do any harm?"

 _Your very presence here has caused enough trouble already, my dear Time Lady,_ Truman heard the voice saying in a mocking tone. _Don't believe that you and your beloved Theta can stop me that easily, because as he and Rose have been learning well enough, I'm not an alien that can be put down with either your silly little magic wands or a battle of the wits. No, as a creature coming right from this world, I'm a force that can't be reckoned with without facing some devastating consequences for all involved._

"Well, guess what? I've dealt with forces which came from neither aliens nor humans before, as has Theta," the woman answered with a dark smile. "He may have not believed what he was seeing at first, seeing as how he's always been a highly logical thinker, but he was eventually able to come to terms with what was going on and helped me and my friends overcome our struggle. If I could do that when I was only fifteen, then I'm sure I could…"

 _Not this time, I'm afraid,_ the voice responded eerily, and before Truman could say or do anything, the woman got knocked to the ground, with her head hitting the ground with a lot of force. And then, what felt like a long stillness took up the air of the room. Truman no longer heard any voices, nor could he feel anyone trying to hold him back, and so he assumed that the force was most likely gone for now.

And so he finally ran up the woman's side and then kneeled down, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Miss, are you okay?" he asked urgently.

The woman groaned for a while, and then said in a quivering voice, "My friend, please find him if you can,"

"Do you mean the one the force called 'Theta'?" Truman wanted to know.

"Yes, that's him," the woman answered weakly. "Although that just happens to be one of several names he's gone by. I've been able to keep in contact with him telepathically for several months now after I left Gallifrey and came down to Earth, but I was going to get the closest I've gotten to him in over two years when I was planning to see Rose Tyler today."

"But how do you expect me to be able to find him if only Rose can see him?"

"He's been trapped inside of Rose's mind the whole time. It's too complicated to explain to you right now, but by getting in contact with Rose, I'll be able to see him once again. Just try to bring Rose in as soon as possible, and let her know that John Smith's friend has come."

"All right, but do you need anything else?" Truman asked, still not able to understand anything about she's just told him.

"No, I think having Rose and Theta here will be enough," the woman managed to say with a smile. "After all, being a Time Lady, there's only so much this being can do to harm me, and knocking me down has about as much effect as a slap in the face. Aliens are able to put up with a lot before they can reach their breaking point."

"That's good to hear," Truman said, relieved that the being didn't appear to have seriously hurt her. "What name should I give Rose when I tell her about you?"

"Just give this to her" the woman responded in a whisper, handing Truman a small, crumbled piece of paper. "Theta will help her understand it, if she's not able to already."

Truman struggled to read the writing for a while, but upon glimpsing closely at it for a while, he was able to make out the following:

Theta:

I've made it here at last. Please guide Rose to my current location as soon as possible.

With lots of love,

S.F.

 **And there you have it! If you were able to make out the initials, then you already know the identity of the mystery woman (and if not, you can go over the small clues I give out in this chapter and figure it out from there). Did you all like the way I revealed it all, or could I have made it a little better? I'd really appreciate knowing your thoughts on this.**

 **Next, we find out the full extend of what brought our Time Lady friend to Earth, and what she meant by "forces which are neither aliens nor humans", and how this will allow her to help Rose and the Doctor. Also, Truman will learn a little more about this room which appears to be trapped in a time warp and if there's anything he can do to set things right again.**


	31. Chapter 31

While Truman was learning many of the frightening truths which had been present in the hotel, Rose was playing around with an old-fashioned train set in the playroom while talking with John Smith.

"Why is it that I'm not able to put all the dolls in here like I was able to do with the big toy train we had back in nursery school?" Rose asked, disappointed in how the train was too small to place anything inside of it, since she'd been thinking of playing her old game where she had a large group of dolls venturing through the London Underground and running across a large number of frightening monsters who took advantage of the complete darkness in order to devour as much of the innocent passengers as possible.

"I think that might be because that train had not been designed as a plaything in the first place," John Smith told her. "This looks more like those trains which are found riding around one of those miniature towns they put on display at shop windows on Christmastime than something which was meant to be played around with by troublesome six-year-olds like yourself."

"Then why is this in the playroom?" Rose asked.

"For the exact same reason as you've got Little Franny lying around your bed with her sole eye: because it's a toy which is as old as the hotel itself, and good old Michael Truman is very fond of putting the hotel's history on display for all to see, regardless of whether or not other people are interested in seeing it," John Smith responded in a tone of grandeur, most likely in an attempt to mock Truman, which had Rose giggling in spite of the memories of what Truman had done to Laura and Victoria remaining clear in her mind. After all, it was better to laugh at the bad guys at times than it was to fear them, as John Smith liked to say.

It was then that Rose heard someone knocking on the door, making her tilt her head from the small train in curiosity.

"Hello?" she called out. "Who is it?"

"It's Mr. Truman, Rose," an anxious voice which Rose believed shared little resemblance to Truman's usual confident and demanding tone answered back. "I need you to come follow me right now, since there's someone who wants to meet you."

Upon realizing that it was Truman, Rose started shaking with fear, and she wrapped her arms around a blue Care Bear in an attempt to ease her anxiety. "No," she called back when she found the strength to speak up. "I don't want to go anywhere with you after what you did yesterday."

"Rose, I'm completely sorry about what I did," Truman responded urgently. "And I promise that I'll do my best to set things right with Laura and Victoria as soon as I can. But right now, it's very important that you do as I say and meet up with this person who needs to see you. The future of the hotel depends on it."

"I don't care about what happens to the hotel!" Rose yelled. "If you lose money or something, you'll deserve it because of how you treat the people that come here!"

"Maybe so, but this isn't just about me. This could also affect you and your mum's lives, as well as those of my employees. I don't want to put anyone's life on the line any more than I already have, Rose, and I'm going to need your help to do it."

When he said this, Rose remained quiet for a moment, wondering what it was that Truman may have just figured out that was causing him to act so desperately. However, before she could make any choice on the manner herself, she heard John Smith's voice urging her gently, _Rose, do as he says. He really does mean what he's saying, and you're the only person who's capable of helping him._

 _I see, but do you know the person who's waiting for me, John Smith?_

 _Yes; it's that same friend who's been helping your mum and several others out. Don't worry about being able to trust her, because she happens to be one of the closest people to me in the world._

 _The closest?_ Rose asked. John Smith always seemed to have a different person whom he considered to be his closest friend, so this didn't seem very helpful to her. Sometimes, it was Romana, who was a Time Lord like himself and had traveled with him for around two years, having even regenerated while with him. Other times, it was Sarah Jane or Ace, and he'd even gone so far recently as to say that he sometimes felt closer to her than he'd been with any other friends. So who could it…?

 _She happens to be a close family member,_ John Smith responded to her question. _That's all I can tell you right now. Now go ahead and follow him, Rose. I promise everything will be okay._

"Rose?" she heard Truman asking her, "Is everything all right in there?"

"Yes," Rose answered, doing her best not to sound too scared. "I'll be coming with you."

And with that, she set the Care Bear beside the small train and slowly stepped out of the playroom, thinking that no matter what happened, what was ahead of her was probably going to be a lot more thrilling than any London Underground game could ever be.

...

Rose was more than a bit surprised when Truman ended up escorting her into the ballroom, especially since only a couple of days ago he'd told her that she wouldn't be allowed to come in there without her mum being present. And upon coming inside, she understood at least part of the reason why: everything inside looked so elegant, expensive, and breakable, with the tables and cups that were big and made of glass, the dark red carpet which covered up the whole floor, a large podium at the center of the room which happened to contain a piano, and a beautiful chandelier hanging through the ceiling, being exactly like those exotic rooms which Rose saw appearing in the old movies which her mummy liked to watch.

In addition to all this, she could hear lively yet old-fashioned sounding music coming from an old record player located not that far from the podium, giving the ballroom a classy feel and making Rose think that the Christmas party was going to be amazing.

"So, do you like this room, Rose?" Truman asked. "I know it may not have all the fun, modern devices which you can find in the playroom and rec room, but…"

"I love it," Rose responded cheerfully. "It looks like those posh party rooms you see in the movies."

"Oh," Truman said, sounding surprised that someone so young could like a place as old-fashioned as the ballroom. "Looks like you've already inherited your mother's good taste in that case. Well, I supposed you won't be so bored at the Christmas party after all."

"Why would I get bored at a party if I've never gotten the chance to go to many of them before?" Rose asked.

"It's just… never mind for now. Best to get back to business before it's too late," Truman said, thinking that it was best to put any unnecessary questions aside for the moment. "So, Rose, I want you to look around now and try to find a hidden door. It may be difficult to see at first, but the closer you examine the place,the better chance you'll have of finding it."

Rose tilted her head towards both her front and back side, scanning the ballroom around for any sign of another door, but finding nothing except the velvet colored walls and the various other adornments which could found around the place, like a small mirror fastened onto a hidden corner of the room and a miniature statue of what looked like an angel, wearing a robe that only covered part of its body.

"I can't find it," Rose said after peering around for several minutes.

"That's funny," Truman said with a frown. "I was pretty sure it was close to the mirror the last time I looked, but it appears as if you're right; there really is no sign of that door anywhere."

"Why would it be gone all of a sudden?" Rose wondered.

"I have no idea, unless certain things in here have the ability to appear and disappear at different moments and I just…"

Just then, the two of them heard a loud thud coming from their left (which was where the angel was located), followed by the sound of running feet. And within a few seconds, Truman once again saw the woman right before him, looking just as alert and energetic as she'd been before the strange being had brought her down.

"How's it all going?" she said with a smile as she noticed Truman and Rose.

"A lot better than I thought it would," Truman said. "So, this is Rose Tyler, daughter of…"

"Mr. Truman, I already know who she is. I want to know if she was able to figure out who I am," the woman said, sounding serious once again. Then, turning to Rose, she said, "So, Rose, do you have any idea who I am?"

Rose started at her for a while, and then said, "Well, you're probably not Romana, since John Smith said that she had blonde hair, or Ace, since she was blonde and stocky, and you have that magic screwdriver with you."

The woman turned to Truman with an impatient expression. "Mr. Truman, did you show her the note at all?"

"I didn't know whether that was the right thing to do," Truman responded. "First of all, because she was very hesitant to come with me when I first asked her, and then I figured that she may be too young to understand what was written in the note, since she's six and is probably just learning to read in school."

"Rose has known how to read for quite a while now, since her mother started teaching her when she was in nursery school," the woman explained. "She would have been able to understand well, since it's simple enough for anyone to get the meaning of."

"So, would it be convenient for me to show it to her now?" Truman asked.

"Better late than never," the woman responded.

Truman then took the note out of his pocket and handed it to Rose. "Go ahead and read this, since it's supposedly going to help you realize who this woman is," he told her.

It didn't take long for Rose to be able to guess the identity of the friend who went by the initials S.F.: Susan Foreman. Why she called John Smith Theta in the note, when John Smith told her that Susan would always call him Grandfather, was a little confusing to understand, but other than that, this short note really did seem like something a close family member of his would write, even sending a message of love to him at the end.

"So, you're Susan?" she finally asked, wanting to know for sure that she was correct.

"Yes, that's me," the woman responded. "Granddaughter of your friend John Smith, who was also known as Theta back in the Academy. He's probably the most well-known Time Lord in Gallifrey who wasn't amongst the top of his class, but of course, his claim to fame came about in a different manner than it did for the others."

"I think John Smith already told me about all that," Rose said.

"He could tell you about being Gallifreyan and his time at the Academy, and yet he couldn't even give you a hint that his granddaughter had been helping your mother and friends out this whole time," Susan said with a sigh. "I guess Grandfather still loves having certain things remain a big mystery to his friends. I remember how Ian and Barbara used to beg him for details of our true identities and home planet, and how he would always respond with a long musing on how big the galaxy is and how certain individuals are so unique that narrowing them down to a specific identity is impossible. I thought it was a bit silly, but he kept at it up throughout our whole time together, even when I left to join David in a future version of Earth."

"Now John Smith never talked about that before," Rose said, fascinated by all Susan was telling her.

"I think what surprises me the most about you is that you have such a typical name," Truman told her. "It sounds more like the name of a young British woman than an alien from Galilee…"

"You mean Gallifrey," Susan corrected.

"Yes, Gallifrey. Anyway, I almost that you'd have a name like R2D2 or Spock, or at least something exotic like Aphrodite or Leela."

Susan laughed. "Actually, Susan Foreman isn't my birth name. Time Lords tend to go by many different names throughout their multiple lives, with some taking on new names after their completion of the Academy or after regeneration. Some young Gallifreyans aren't even given a birth name, going by numbers or different nicknames until they become adults, during which they're able to pick out a name for themselves."

"What was your birth name, Susan?" Rose asked.

Without hesitation, Susan responded by saying, "When I was born, my parents named me Susallena Florentine. Some of the more scientific Time Lords gave their children combinations of different words as names, like lunar and aqua, or nova and light, but since my mother is said to have been a big romantic, she combined the names Susan and Elena together to form Susallena along with Florentine to form my full name. I don't even want to get started on my name from the Academy. By that point, I was begging Grandfather to use Susan as an alias for our time on Earth."

"Well, here on Earth, people usually change their names only if they become famous, join a religious order,or get married, with the latter situation usually involving just changing their last name," Truman explained to her. "I can't imagine all the trouble it would take to change your name up to three times."

"It may seem overwhelming for humans, but it tends to be fun for us Time Lords," Susan said. "So, now I'll try to tell you at least part of the story of how I got involved in my Grandfather's mission."

"Why can't you tell it all?" Rose asked.

"Some information must remain a secret, and I also don't want to take up too much of our time," Susan explained.

"In that case, you should start right now. After all, I always like entertaining guests with stories," Truman said.

"All right. So, Rose, did Grandfather tell you about how I got together with a man named David in the 22nd century Earth after surviving the invasion of the Deleks?"

"I think he did," Rose responded.

"Well, for a while, my life was quite ordinary. David and I got married after two months of being together, and we both got involved in the reconstruction of London. Around that time, we settled down in a flat building which became the home of fifteen different families and got jobs in sanitary keeping of the city. For a while, we were happy with the way things were. We even managed to have two children together, which I wasn't even sure would be possible at first. Their names were Daniel and Emma, and all was good for them while it lasted."

"While it lasted? Does that mean there was another invasion?" Truman asked.

"Yes," Susan answered, her expression then looking more somber. "It happened twelve years after the last invasion, and it was the Deleks once again. Only this time, they succeeded at killing twice as much people as before, and amongst the victims were David and Daniel, who died while escorting people into a safety zone. Me, Emma, and five others were the only people who survived from our community."

"That sounds awful!" Rose said, amazed at how Susan was able to tell such a sad story without crying or breaking down in some way.

"It was, but what kept me going was my longing to protect Emma and my friends. Like Grandfather, I'd developed the ability to adapt to a variety of situations while keeping my sense of logic intact, and I used it as best as I could under the circumstances."

"So, did the invasion go on for a long time?" Truman asked.

"It lasted for two weeks after David and Daniel died, and then members of my people arrived, putting a stop to the invasion by rescuing those of us who remained. A former scientist amongst the survivors set up a liquid which wiped out the remaining of the Deleks, killing them instantly and saving the Earth. My people had located me after Grandfather saved the Gallifreyan government from the threats of the Master, and told me that they were going to pardon me from my past crime of leaving Gallifrey without permission, granting me full privileges as a Time Lord once again. I was able to gain excess to their latest gadgets, get my own TARDIS…"

"A TARDIS? What's that?" Truman asked.

"It's supposed to be a time machine," Susan explained. "The letters stand for Time and Relative Dimension In Space."

"I see. Go on then," Truman

"However, I was told that all of this would come to me at a cost. Since Emma was half human, and humans weren't allowed in Gallifrey at the time, she would not be allowed to come along with me if I were to return there at some point. She could still travel alongside me and live with me if I were to live in any other planet, but never to Gallifrey."

"What did you do?" Rose asked.

"At first, Emma and I traveled around in my TARDIS together, going wherever we wanted and thinking things would go on like this for a long time. However, within a couple of years, Grandfather found himself in trouble again and I was called in to serve as a temporary advisor. At first, I was devastated to have to leave Emma behind, but she was able to find a home in Mars, assisting in time traveling advice and construction in the planet. Giving the fact that she was always so resourceful and had an expanded life span on account of being half Time Lord, I knew she'd be all right on her own..."

As Susan went on with her story, Rose noticed a large door suddenly appearing on the wall next to the mirror. Curious as to how it got through, she started moving a little closer to that side of the ballroom, wondering if she'd be able to discover the source of what had brought it in. At the same time, she could still hear Susan speaking, although she failed to notice that she had moved away for some reason:

"After a while, although Grandfather was gone from Gallifrey and I was free to go on my own again, I could still see what he was doing through visions and dreams which were so vivid that I was always convinced they were real. I'd experienced a feeling similar to this back when I first traveled with Grandfather, when I started seeing this girl who appeared to be under a lot of distress. As with those visions, I wasn't able to have any contact with him, nor was I capable of taking action at any moment. All I could do was witness everything from his happiest moments to every dangerous situation he got himself into. And then, there came a time when I could communicate with him once again, although he now appeared to be confined to one space the whole time…"

"Susan, I think Rose has wandered off," Truman interrupted her.

Susan tilted around to see where she was, and upon noticing that she was about to open the door, she called out, "Rose, step away from there right now! If you walk in there without me by your side, you'll be walking into danger!"

But all Rose could hear was a low, yet highly persuasive voice urging her on by saying, _Go ahead, Rose. The answer to the mystery you've been wanting to solve all this time will be right in here._

Rose went on without hesitation, with no doubt about what she was saying until she heard John Smith's panicked voice calling out, _Rose, don't step inside! Stepping into that room will mean danger for both of us as well Susan and Truman!_

"Grandfather?" Susan yelled urgently. "Grandfather, is that you?"

But by then it was too late, because the door shut down with a hard slam, and Rose soon found herself in exactly the same place she'd just been, but looking a lot more luxurious and old-fashioned than it had been before.

 **Next, where exactly is Rose right now, and what other mystery will she possibly discover in there?**


	32. Chapter 32

**I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and here's to a happy, and hopefully saner, New Year!**

Moments later, Rose heard the same jazz music she was hearing before. However, upon taking a closer look at the place around her, it no longer came from the old record player, but from three tall, broad young men playing the saxophone, trumpet, and drums on the podium. All around her, there were now dozens of people in the room, either dancing with a partner or chatting in large groups, laughing wildly while drinking from those elegant glasses Rose had seen in the ballroom earlier.

"Oh, Caroline, this must be the best New Year's Eve party I've ever been to!" a woman with a short haircut, gold earrings, and a light blue gown was saying, sipping from a red beverage, most likely wine based on what Rose had seen her mummy drinking in the past, as she was speaking.

"This party's sure swell, Peggy, but it's not the party that I love so much as being able to have a good glass of liquor for once," Caroline answered, speaking in an American accent, and having already downed a full glass of wine and turning to the table to pour herself a second glass from the bottle which had been placed in the tables of all the guests. "The stuff they gave us at the speakeasies in Chicago was dreadful; nothing but cheap beer and whisky imported from low class tavern owners in Canada who are desperate to make money in the illegal booze business. This is the real thing I've been wanting to have since I was fifteen, and if there's any dream of mine that came true by coming to England, it's being able to taste something like this at last!" She then started laughing hysterically before once again taking a big gulp of the wine.

Rose remembered her mummy rambling when she was drunk once about how alcohol had once been illegal in America, and how she believed she would die if Britain ever imposed such a law. However, that had been a long time ago, before her mummy or even the grandmother she'd never met had been born, and these women looked too young to have lived during that time.

But then again, everything in here looked so old despite also seeming so new. The clothes all the party guests were wearing, for one thing, were very different from anything Rose had ever seen any adult wearing before, including dresses which were sleeveless yet more ruffled and lacy than most modern dresses, and elegant black or white tuxedo coats on the men. In addition, the music and how everyone was reacting to it was unusual. In one special event Rose had once attended with her mummy, this type of music was being played as well, but everyone listening to it simply remained seated and talked to fellow guests. However, in this party, everyone was dancing along to the music, with some actually acting as wild as Rose heard some people acted at rock concerts, with one woman yelling out as she swung around the place with her partner.

And then, Rose saw several things which were familiar. The first was the statue of the angel with the robe which covered only part of its body. Only now it was placed alongside two other statues in the front of the room, the first being one of a tall woman with hair that went all the way down to her feet and covered her breasts, and the other being a lion who stood straight and looked upon the place with what appeared to be a look of pride and power. The second was the mirror, which remained in the same location as it was when Rose first saw it earlier. And the third was a large photo of what was clearly the exterior of the Northern Horizons, which looked just as large and luxurious, if not more so, as when Rose stepped outside despite the picture being in black and white.

So, what it really possible that she was in the past?

"Hey, little girl, what are you doing in that boys clothing?" a woman in a white gown with puffy sleeves asked, looking at Rose with what was clearly a disapproving expression.

Rose looked down at what she was wearing: a blue sports t-shirt with the number 25 printed on it and black trousers. Yes, this was certainly something girls wouldn't be caught wearing in the old days.

However, she wasn't going to admit who she was or where she was actually from any time soon. "I was just playing dress up a while ago and a boy lent me his clothes to wear," she said quickly, saying the first lie which came to mind.

"Well, he must be one of the servant's children judging from the state of that clothing," the woman said with a disgusted expression on her face. "Proper young ladies should avoid associating with those types of children whenever possible, my dear. And putting on boys clothing is another bad habit you should avoid, even if it is for play. You could develop all sorts of perversities if you keep on doing such things."

Rose wasn't sure what "perversities" meant, but judging by the woman's tone as she'd said it and how she had brought up bad habits, she assumed that this couldn't mean anything good.

"Oh, don't make such a fuss about that, Wendy," Caroline said with a chuckle. "There's nothing wrong with these dress up games children like having every once in a while. I remember how thrilled I was when I got to wear a soldier's suit and armor when playing Joan of Arc in a school play when I was ten years old and attending boarding school in Paris. If anything, I think taking on some of the more masculine traits in this century is what's been giving us ladies all of the rights we've been gaining in the past couple of years. I'm pretty sure Joan of Arc would have been proud of all we've achieved."

"Don't remind me of that," Wendy said, shaking her head. "Just because women are now allowed to vote doesn't mean that we should crop our hair short and act as if we're on par with men, like those crazy flappers seem to believe," and she said this with a pointed look towards Peggy, who glared and looked away to get another glass of wine. "And now if you'll excuse me," Wendy continued, "I'm going to go get this little girl a nice dress to get her looking like the proper young lady she should be looking like. Feel free to drink your way into the new year with your drunkard of a friend there." And as she walked away, she mumbled, "Bloody Yanks. The only reason they come to Europe nowadays is to drink their wits away and attempt to create fine art which is the worst rubbish anyone's thought of creating."

"I'm no Yank!" Peggy yelled drunkenly. "I'm from Chicago, miles away from the old Yankees!"

"However, the Midwest is best known as the center of the bootlegging business, so that's nothing to be proud of," a man in a white suit said, caressing Peggy's cheek in a strange manner.

"Hush up, Edmund! We've got a child by our side who could be taking this all in," Caroline said, now being the one with the look of disapproval.

"Why should it matter, Caroline? That child appears to be too young to understand anything we're saying," Edmund said, laughing. Turning to Rose, he then said cheerfully, "Looks like someone's in the spirit of the new year, with a shirt bearing the year that's about to come."

"The year?" Rose asked confusedly. "What year is it exactly, sir?" she demanded to know without stopping to think about how this strange this would sound.

Edmund laughed once again, and Rose could smell the deep stench of liquor from his mouth as he said, "Why, it's only the last day of 1924, my dear! Are so young that you haven't learned about the concept of different years yet?" This resulted in a confused look from Rose, who really must have looked much younger to this man at that moment.

"I think, Edmund, that it's best if we placed this little girl in the playroom," Caroline said. Then, taking Rose's hand, she said, "Now, love, you're going to go into the playroom and wait along with Therese and Louise Purdue, two nice little twin girls who are in there waiting for their father. They're French Canadian, and based on how they were dressed so similarly to you when we first saw them, I must assume that maybe you're Canadian too; is that right?"

"No," Rose said, "I'm British, just like you."

"Maybe so, but I've never seen a British girl dressed as you are now," Caroline answered with a chuckle. She then escorted Rose into the exact same door which she'd set foot into when entering this room. This brought some relief to Rose, who believed that perhaps the door would now lead her back into the present, and as a result, she followed Caroline along without hesitation. Other than the obvious confusion resulting from being in a different time period, Rose didn't like how the majority of the party guests were so drunk and careless, so much like how her mummy was when she would get drunk. Edmund in particular had made her nervous, especially when she saw how he touched Peggy, and it made Rose wonder whether it was just in the past that party guests would act so strangely, or if they also did so in the present, which would make her look forward to the Christmas party a lot less.

However, when she stepped through the door with Caroline, instead of finding the modern version of the ballroom with Truman and Susan, she instead saw the same room which Truman and Susan had been in before her entrance into the ballroom, with the canopy bed, the theater book, and pretty much everything from before present except for the New Year's Eve picture, which was replaced by another photo of the Northern Horizons building. And seated in the desk were two dark-haired girls in matching white shirts with collars and blue trousers, looking more modern than anyone else in the hotel. To make it appear even more convincing that these girls were from the future, one of them was looking a collection of the _Peanuts_ comics, while the other was reading a paperback version of _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ while having what looked like a ham radio by her side. Also on the table was a stuffed golden wolf, with dark eyes that gave it the same direct look as the statue of the lion.

Upon seeing Caroline coming in with Rose, the two girls called out in unison, " _Bon soir*_ , Mademoiselle Caroline," while darting curious glances towards Rose.

"Girls, I found another girl who looks as if she also got separated from her parents," Caroline told them. Turning to Rose, she then asked, "Would you mind telling us your name, love?"

But before Rose could say anything, the girl who'd been reading _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,_ who appeared a little taller and chunkier than the other girl, said, "We already know who she is, Mademoiselle Caroline; her name is Rose Tyler."

"Thank you, Therese, but how do you already know her?" Caroline asked.

"She came here with her mother a while before all the others did," the one looking through the _Peanuts_ collection, who must have been Louise, responded politely. "Papa told us about their arrival several days ago, saying that they were a little nervous about meeting the other guests."

"Oh, I see. That explains a lot about her, in that case," Caroline said, appearing to be more relieved now upon hearing what she believed to be Rose's situation. "So, I'll leave you two to keep her company for a while. Expect to see Wendy coming in with a dress for Rose soon, if she was actually serious about doing so, that is. In thirty minutes to twelve, if you're all still awake, feel free to come join us for the arrival of the New Year. After all, your parents may have come back by then."

"Of course, Mademoiselle Caroline. Thank you for bringing Rose over," Therese said, watching as Caroline left them alone, who gave them a friendly wave before shutting the door.

Rose felt a shiver running through her body as she realized that she was all alone with these strange twins. For some reason, she sensed that their father wouldn't be coming in any time soon, that they had been in that room on their own for a longer amount of time than she was capable of guessing.

And as she thought this, Therese said in a calm voice, "You're right, Rose, Papa hasn't actually seen us in a long time. Of all the people in here waiting for the arrival of the wolf, he's the one who's spend the most time on his own, searching through every room in this hotel for a quicker solution to our problem."

"What problem are you talking about, and who is the wolf?" Rose asked anxiously, her eyes darting in the direction of the golden wolf placed on the table, and wondering if it was more than just a stuffed animal.

"Couldn't you already tell, Rose?" Louise asked with an innocent expression on her face. "All the people you've been seeing here are dead, including the two of us. Out there in the ballroom, every day for the past sixty-eight years has been New Year's Eve of 1924. As the guests who were present on that day have passed away over the years, they all find themselves returning back to that night when their lives changed forever, because although only one person died on that night, the spirit that caused it to happen affected the lives of everyone involved in some way, and of many others who've come here over the years. For all of us here, this is our own version of Limbo or Purgatory; the place we're forced to remain in until someone is able to save us and help guide us to a better place."

"So, are you two also from 1924?" Rose asked, glancing at their modern clothing as she asked the question, and wondering if that would explain why they sounded older then they looked when speaking.

"No," Therese started to explain, "We're actually from the year 1980, and while much of this room remains the same as it was in 1924, we're still able to do things like bringing in our newer toys and books or playing our radio. We spend the majority of our time here because this was the place where our father placed our bodies after killing us, as I believe Allison has already told you."

Rose remembered how Allison had told her and her mum about how one of the former caretakers had killed his daughters and then himself, but she'd never brought up how he'd hid their bodies in this room, which meant that she either hadn't wanted to scare Rose any more than she already was or that she didn't know anything about that part of the story.

"Allison didn't know anything about that, Rose, and as of now, she still has no idea about how dangerous this hotel actually is, even though she always had her suspicions," Therese told her. "And yes, both Louise and I were born with moderate psychic ability. This helped us be able to predict our papa's fits of anger and protect ourselves as we saw fit, especially since our mama left when we were only two. He was extremely dissatisfied with everything in his life, from his job to our neighbors, and even life in Quebec. He thought that by coming to England, he'd be able to find the prosperity he believed he deserved, so when the best job he could get here in Northern Horizons was as a caretaker, he took it as an insult to his abilities and intellect."

"What was it that your papa thought was so special about him?" Rose wanted to know.

"The best way to describe him would be to say that he was very similar to the father of Victoria Waterfield, the woman you met a while ago, as well as your own father," Louise said. "He was an inventor who'd been able to create excellent devices during his good days, including a machine that served food for you and a tablet with some of the capacities of computers. He sometimes liked showing us his works in progress when he was in a good mood, and promised to teach us how to be inventors ourselves when we got older."

"However, because other people constantly told him that his inventions were useless, he quickly lost respect for so many people, and even took it out on us if he was angry enough," Therese continued, starting to look anxiously towards a silver watch which lay around unused beside the golden wolf. "In fact, when Mr. Jameson, who was the owner of Northern Horizons before Mr. Truman took over, heard Papa rambling on about the serving device he invented, he laughed and told him to bring out a model of it and use it at the kitchen for the guests if he really believed it could work. This was the first thing that irritated him while working here, and it was nowhere near the last."

"The more time passed, the more his anger seemed to grow," Louise said, starting to pull her fingers around the collar of her shirt. "He felt that nothing about the work he was doing was satisfying him in any way, even declaring it to be worse than any job he had in Quebec. We got very frightened of how he was acting, and would sometimes talk to Allison about what went on, since she was the only one who was willing to listen to anything that a little girl would say. She helped us out in some ways, even standing up to Papa when she could, but she thought there was something stronger going on which she didn't believe anyone could do anything to help."

"So, he just became crazy because no one thought he was talented?" Rose asked, starting to shiver a little from fear, perhaps after noticing the nervous ticks of the twins.

"That was part of the reason why, but that alone would not have been strong enough to provoke him to do what he did," Louise continued, now placing her hands in her pockets to avoid fidgeting. "What really made him lose his mind was something that had been present in Northern Horizons from the beginning, who most likely came about when…"

"Louise, I believe Rose is getting a little too frightened by the story," Therese interrupted her sister. Then, with a concerned glance towards Rose, she asked, "Would you like some tea and treats to calm yourself down a little?

"Sure," Rose replied, only now realizing how hot and dizzy she was feeling, with a headache starting to kick in.

Therese offered her a chair and a cup of tea with cream. Rose sipped it slowly, surprised by how warm it was despite how it appeared to have been served up quite a while ago. She then took a bite of a strawberry-flavored biscuit, tasting very fresh and warm as well. This was all enough to ease her nerves for a while, and she noticed both of the twins smiling at her, probably happy to see that they'd helped her feel better.

"How are you now, Rose?" Louise asked.

"Much better, thank you," Rose replied. "Can you finish the story now?"

"If you insist," Louise responded. "So, you know all those incidents that have happened while you've been here at the hotel, like your telekinesis getting so strongly unleashed, Truman's inexplicable insistent on authority, the frightening sensations your friends Christine and Clara experienced, the strange objects you keep seeing, and the appearance of the phrase 'Dab flow'?"

"Yes?" Rose responded.

"This has all happened because of a dangerous spirit which has been present in the hotel since its earliest days," Therese continued. "For the first two decades of Northern Horizons' existence, it remained largely dormant, coming alive only through some of the statues and toys during those hours when no one was awake. But on this day, something provoked it to unleash its full power, resulting in the death of one of the guests present in this party."

"Who? Was it someone I met?" Rose asked, the fear building up once again.

"It was Peggy Finch," Louise answered. "As of now, she's so drunk that Caroline will take her up to her room so she can sober up a little. However, being so unused to drinking so heavily, Peggy starts acting very wildly, laughing hysterically and even making strange noises while on her own. She then starts bathing at around eleven, at which time the spirit, which had been present in her room ever since Caroline had taken her up there, attacks her and ends up killing her. According to Eleanor Perkins, the maid who heard her cries and found her body, she heard howling along with screaming, and upon finding her body, she saw the words 'Dab Flow' written in blood around the bathtub. She was actually convinced that it was a murder, but the police dismissed her claims because of a lack of evidence, officially declaring it to be a suicide, and parts of her testimony were kept out of the official reports in addition to the name of Northern Horizons."

"Eleanor Perkins never forgot about this though," Therese went on. "And ten years later, she died after throwing herself off the window of a relative's house. Her sister found 'Dab Flow' written on the walls of Eleanor's bedroom, and claimed to have heard an awful lot of screaming at the moments of her death. But once again, there was no evidence found of homicide, and once again, the death was considered a suicide. Wendy Collins, another woman you just met, died in a similar manner in her family home a year later. 'Dab Flow' was found written in her closet door, but once again, her cause of death was declared to be a suicide."

"Similar causes of death were experienced by others present at the party, but we can't go over them all," Louise said, placing a hand around Rose's shoulder upon seeing how frightened she was becoming. "I don't believe you'll be able to hear it at the moment, but know that at least Caroline passed away peacefully two years ago from an illness at the age of eighty-five. She's the latest member to come back here, and perhaps the happiest, based on what we've seen of her."

"But what does it all mean?" Rose asked in frustration. "Do any of you have any idea what 'Dab Flow' is, and why it came up when all those people died?"

Louise glanced anxiously at Therese. "Is now the best time to tell her?" she asked in a whisper.

"I believe so," Therese answered. "Because if we wait till it gets closer to eleven, we could end up provoking her to act in a dangerous way."

"All right," Louise said. Turning to Rose, she said, "Papa was the one who probably came the closest to discovering the source of the words. After we started hearing noises in the night that weren't that different from what your friend Christine was hearing, Papa became determined to discover the noise's source, and started looking through every room in the hotel at night. Mr. Jameson warned him against doing this one night after walking in on him at midnight, threatening to fire him if he went on doing so. But since he never allowed other people to order him around, he continued with his nightly searches, telling us that he wouldn't rest until he discovered what was causing the noise."

"So, one night, when checking up on the lavatories, he came upon the shadow of this creature," Therese said, picking up the golden wolf stuffed animal as she spoke and stepping up closer to Rose as she did so, as if she wanted her to get the best look at it as possible.

"A wolf," Rose said, "But why is that?"

"Papa heard an eerie voice telling him to remember the words from the old fairy tale of a little girl who placed too much trust in a familiar face, and how it nearly ended things for her. It involved only two words, which formed the name of the figure which would be the ultimate salvation for the souls trapped in Northern Horizons," Louise told her. "Think closely about that for a minute, and you'll find out what the significance of all this is."

At that moment, Rose closed her eyes, trying to think about all the fairy tales which she'd read about that involved girls facing deception. There was Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and even a strange long poem called "Goblin Market", which her mummy had caught her reading from her book of British poetry and taken away from her before she could read it all the way through from some reason. It had been about a girl eating forbidden fruit despite her sister's warnings against doing so and then getting attacked. It reminded her a little of these twins right now, not to mention so many the other fairy tales she loved, even though it seemed scarier than them.

But the one that always haunted Rose the most was Little Red Riding Hood, because she'd done everything she'd been told to do by refusing to speak to the Bad Wolf on account of being a stranger, and yet she'd still been tricked by him when he disguised himself as her grandmother…

 _Hold on a minute_ , Rose thought. _Red Riding Hood was the only one of those fairy tale girls who was actually tricked by someone who was very familiar to her. The bad wolf pretended to be her grandmother, and she believed it completely._

And then, the words that she'd seen on her first day at Northern Horizons suddenly flashed before her eyes:

 _Dab Flow_

John Smith once told her about the various ways in which people could play with words, such as through using the same letters of one word to write another, or, as was usually the easiest method, by spelling words backwards. The words formed usually meant nothing, but just occasionally, they were able to form an actual word that was quite simple at times.

 _Dab Flow_

"Rose?" she heard Therese calling out in frightened voice. "Rose, what's the matter?"

She ignored this, carefully working through the two words "Dab" backwards clearly spelled "Bad", and "Flow" was… lowf? Olf?

No, that wasn't correct. But upon working through the second word a little more, she discovered that it was none other than "wolf".

 _Dab Flow= Bad Wolf_

So this meant that for some reason, the phrase "Bad Wolf" had been appearing during times of danger under the disguise of "Dab Flow", perhaps as a sign of what was supposed to save a victim. It was so important that these twins even had a stuffed animal of a wolf by their side. But how did all work? Did all those people die because they hadn't been able to guess the phrase correctly…

 _Look at the wall, girls!_ She suddenly heard a heavily accented male voice calling out angrly. And right before her, Rose now saw the figure of a shabbily dressed man pointing a gun in the direction of two girls kneeling down, whom upon taking a closer look, Rose recognized as the twins she'd just been talking to, who were staring at the wall with tears in their eyes.

 _We don't know what that means, Papa!_ One of them, most likely Therese, called out with a look of horror on her face as her eyes darted towards her father. _We really are trying to work it out, but all we can guess is that it means something's flowing around the place which looks dab. Does it mean a lake at a park, or a river or pond…?_

 _It's nothing of that sort, you little bugger!_ Her father responded angrily, shaking with fury as he aimed the gun closer towards their direction. _Louise, do you know what it means? Because if neither of you do, I'll be forced to give you your medicine, and you're not going to like it!_

 _But we really have no idea, Papa,_ Louise responded with a sob.

Rose then realized that she was starting to glow, lighting up the place with a light that was so strong that she almost felt blinded by it.

 _Rose, wake up!_ She could hear the girls calling out at the very same time as they were sobbing right in front of her. _If you let yourself stay stuck in that vision, things could change, and you won't be able to save all the people trapped in here._

 _All right, here's your medicine, girls!_ the father yelled out threateningly. _In the count of three. One…Wake up, Rose! Wake up, now!_

The light reached its brightest point yet, glowing through Rose as powerfully as the sun.

 _Two..._

 _No, Papa! Please just leave us alone!_

"Bad wolf," Rose started saying to herself, thinking that perhaps this would help her break free from this terrifying vision. "Bad wolf, bad wolf…"

 _Go on, Rose,_ she could hear the twins from the room urging her on, dimming out the cries of the past versions of the twins, who were now crying more loudly than before. _If you keep on saying it to yourself, you can get yourself out of there. As much as we'd like to live on, that's not how things were meant to be. You could save us in a different manner, but not here, not in this moment._

 _Three!_

And then Rose felt herself and the whole room bursting, resulting in an uncontrollable shaking and a loud screaming, but whether it came from herself, the twins, or even their father, she could not tell. Within a while though, all was still, and the only thing Rose could see was the slowly fading light from her body.

 ***French for "Good Evening"**

 **Next, upon waking up from her vision, Rose will gain a better understanding of what just happened to her. We'll see how much help Susan and John Smith will be able to give her and how Jackie will react to finding out who Susan is and what happened to Rose. Also, know that we haven't seen the last of the New Year's Eve party of 1924 and its guests yet, or of Therese and Louise Purdue, for that matter.**


	33. Chapter 33

When Rose looked around a while later, she was relieved to find herself in her room, with several blankets around her and her Snoopy stuffed animal by her side instead of that dreadful Little Franny doll. There was a mug of hot cocoa beside her lamp, and because of both a sudden thirst and how chilly the room felt, she took a sip of it, placing her hands around the mug for a long time in an attempt to feel warm again.

The door opened up a crack, and Rose heard her mummy's voice crying out, "Rose, you've woken up!" She then placed her arms tightly around her daughter, saying "Oh, thank God, baby! I almost thought I'd lost you. For a moment, Truman and Susan thought you were incapable of breathing, and you could only imagine how worried I was."

"It's okay, Mummy. I was just having a vision," Rose said softly.

"According to Susan, it was something stronger than a vision," Jackie explained. "You were supposedly dragged off to a part of the hotel which only a limited number of people are capable of seeing. I didn't understand everything she was telling me, but from what I know, you're very lucky to have come out of it when you did. She was expecting you to remain in that state for nearly half the day, if you could awaken at all."

 _Stronger than a vision?_ Rose thought. Had Susan been able to detect how she'd been in contact with the hotel's ghosts, including Therese and Louise Purdue? Had she only been glowing in the vision, or had Susan, Mr. Truman, and her mummy been able to see it as well?

"Are you feeling okay, love?" Jackie asked, now placing her palm around Rose's forehead. "You're showing no signs of fever so far, as Susan said might occur once you woke up, but is anything else bothering you? Are you experiencing any pain or feeling awfully tired?"

"No, Mummy; I really think I'm okay," Rose said, being completely honest about how she couldn't feel anything wrong. If anything, she felt a little too relaxed, as if reaching a high degree of power had eased all possible weakness she could have experienced. But she still had to know whether they'd seen her glowing, and so she asked, "Mummy, can you tell me something?"

"Of course, sweetie. What is it?" Jackie said gently.

"When I was out of it, did I look any different at certain times?" Rose asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, did I ever look as if I changed color? Because around the end of my vision, I started glowing as brightly as the sun, and I felt like I'd suddenly become very powerful," Rose explained.

Jackie frowned out of confusion. "No, love," she answered. "Not once did any of us see you changing color. As a matter of fact, since the three of us left around the time your vision was ending, there's no way we could possibly have been aware of what was happening to you as you were gaining consciousness again."

Tilting her eyes around the room, however, Jackie then noticed that something was different: much of the older toys and items which had been placed in their room upon their arrival, including Little Franny, had been suddenly thrashed all over the place. Several pieces of jewelry which had been placed in a gold-trimmed box in a drawer, were now scattered throughout the floor, with many of the necklaces being torn, a diamond ring being shattered into pieces, and beads from bracelets rolling around the carpet in all directions. Several dresses which had clearly been in the wardrobe before were now thrown in a pile next to Jackie's bed, with one beautiful pink one which Jackie had been planning to have Rose wear for the Christmas party now being covered with what looked like black ink. And then there was Little Franny herself, who had now lost both of her disfiguring eyes and had the skirt of her Victorian gown ripped through the middle, showing off her old-fashioned undergarments.

"Oh, no!" Jackie exclaimed after seeing the full extent of the mess which had formed during her absence. "Something strange certainly did go on with your vision when we left you behind, Rose, because I've been keeping this nice little room as neat as a castle ever since we've gotten here."

"So it wasn't just part of the vision; I really did become more powerful," Rose said, not knowing whether she should be feeling excited about this or scared. Of course, it could have just been her telekinesis at work again, but for some reason, Rose felt that something stronger than this was what had caused the mess in her room. Therese and Louise wouldn't have been so insistent that her powers could possibly help the hotel's ghosts if they'd been referring to her telekinesis.

"Jackie, is everything all right in there?" It was Susan, who came in carrying a hot towel, a mug, a first aid kit and a bowl containing something warm and steaming all the same time. Rose wondered how anyone, even a Time Lady, could be strong enough to walk around carry that much stuff without showing even a hint of losing their balance, and figured that perhaps it was this same strength that had allowed John Smith to remain confined to her mind without too much issues. And so, when Susan got close enough to her, Rose smiled and said, "How are you doing, Susan?"

For a moment, Susan looked startled, and came really close to dropping the hot towel which she had slung around her shoulder. Then, she chuckled and said, "Well, here I am carrying around all these remedies for nothing. I thought you would still be sleeping and heavily sweating when I walked in here, and it turns out that you're in better shape than the rest of us!"

"I was as surprised as you are, Susan," Jackie said with a nod.

Rose frowned out of curiosity, wondering why it was that her mummy was getting on so well with Susan when the last time something like this had happened to her, she'd slapped Harry Sullivan and refused to trust him for a while. Had her mother already gone through her usual fit of temper, or had her fear this time been so strong that she'd been left incapable of blaming anyone? Or could it be that she'd saved all her anger for Truman, who'd already done enough to trouble both her and Rose?

 _Oh, your mummy was certainly furious with Susan for a moment, Rose,_ John Smith answered with a laugh. _She not only threatened to have her arrested for her intrusion into the hotel, but also got her aquinted with what has to be the fiercest slap I've ever seen in any creature across the galaxy! As for Truman, I think she was even tougher with him, slapping him about three times and calling him every obscenity in the book on account of what he'd done to her precious baby girl. But of course, fear makes allies out of even the most sworn of enemies, and they were soon working together to keep you well despite all the distrust between the three of them._

 _Grandfather?_ Rose heard the excited voice of Susan calling out happily. _Grandfather, is that really you?_

John Smith laughed once again. _Of course it's me, Susan. What did you think I was, a zygon or auton- version of your dear old grandfather?_

Susan chuckled out loud, provoking a curious glance from Jackie and a smile from Rose. _I think nothing pleases me more than the fact that this version of you has such a better sense of humor than back when you were a young man with an old face._

 _Oh, please, Susan. I was always a funny man at heart, and you know that better than anyone,_ John Smith responded stubbornly.

 _Well, either way, nothing pleases me more than to see that you're still in good shape after all these years, even if you have been confined to the mind of a six-year-old for quite a long time,_ Susan responded cheerfully.

 _Rose isn't just any six-year-old girl, though. Yes, she can be incredibly annoying and stubborn at times, taking on a little too much of her mother's traits, but she has levels of intelligence and loyalty which would astonish anyone in the galaxy. And of course, with my very first trusted sidekick by my side once again, I don't believe I could have it any better than this._

 _Did you mean to say your first trusted_ sidekick _or_ psychic, _John Smith?_ Rose asked, a little ashamed of having interrupted the happy family reunion, but still feeling as if she had to understand certain things well enough.

However, instead of being bothered by this, John Smith just laughed once again. _I guess it can be both, if you want to put it that way, Rose. After all, Susan did demonstrate psychic abilities by both her dreams of Sarah Jane Smith, another future psychic sidekick, as well as during her nasty encounter with the Sensorites._

 _Susan had dreams about Sarah Jane Smith? Why was that?_ Rose asked.

 _That's something I still haven't been able to figure out. I've always thought it was because Sarah Jane Smith would be the next psychic whom I'd be traveling with, and that Susan had been able to form a connection of the mind with her on account of the time vortex bringing the two of them together in ways which I have no way of understanding. However, I've never been able to find out anything to help me come up with any different conclusions. Have you been able to by any chance, Susan?_

 _No, Grandfather. All I can think of is that we were two lonely, frightened girls with abilities beyond our comprehension who would come across the good fortune of having you as a teacher,_ Susan answered, sounding disappointed upon not being able to come up with anything better than her grandfather could.

 _Perhaps later on I could have you and Sarah Jane meet up and see if we could work it out with the two of you together, but right now, our main priority is Rose,_ John Smith said. _Seeing from the state this room's in, we owe her the best explanation we can._

 _The state of this room? Grandfather, what do you...?_ But upon taking a quick glance at the place, Susan was struck by how messy it all was, with the scattering of all the clothes, jewelry, and toys around every corner. What exactly could have happened while she'd been gone? Was the vision so powerful that it had provoked Rose's telekinesis even as she'd been unconscious?

 _Rose, I suggest we start by you telling us as much about this vision as you can remember,_ John Smith told Rose.

 _Okay,_ Rose answered reluctantly. _I was in the ballroom of Northern Horizons, but the year was completely different, since it was New Year's Eve of 1924. Everyone who was at the party at that time and had died was there, and they were all acting as if they'd been stuck in that same day for a long time, thinking that I was just another guest. One of the ladies then put me in a room where Therese and Louise Perdue, the two twins who were killed by their dad in 1980, had been staying for twelve years now. They explained a lot of the situation to me, including how the words "dab flow", which were seen when Peggy died, had also been found when many of the party guests and hotel workers died years later. It turned out that "dab flow" is "bad wolf" spelled backwards, and that's supposed to be how they call the person that's supposed to save all the ghosts trapped in the hotel. At the end of my vision, I appeared at the exact moment when Therese and Louise were going to be killed by their dad, and I started glowing like the sun. But the twins kept trying to stop me from doing that, saying that I had to save them in some other way, and that's when I woke up._

 _The glowing. That must have been what caused this all to happen, Grandfather,_ Susan said seriously. _But what could that mean? Was the glowing itself supposed to save the girl's lives, or was it supposed to represent Rose's telekinetic abilities at work?_

 _Susan, I believe that it represents something stronger than telekinesis. The way I see it, it's supposed to be a power Rose has which has remained dormant throughout most of her life, left incapable of manifesting itself until the time was right. Because Rose was able to come in close contact with ghosts for the first time in her life, this power was finally able to let itself loose, perhaps permitting her to get the chance to either bring people back to life or to make significant changes to a particular point in time._

 _And yet she didn't get the chance to do anything with it,_ Susan said.

 _Not yet, my dear Susan,_ John Smith insisted. But _she may get another opportunity to do so in the near future. For all we know, this power had been slowly awakening ever since she'd first set foot in Northern Horizons, or perhaps even before then, probably starting when Michael Truman's girlfriend's cousin had died in that car accident which Jackie had been involved in._

 _The one which I saved her from._

 _Yes. I feel as if that was the first event which led up to this point. Although one person connected to the cycle had died, another had been saved, which upset the entity looking to feed itself off from these series of deaths. As a result, it haunted those who survived, resulting in the burning of Rolling Meadows Nursery School and the later death of Hannah Lewis. However, it has not succeeded in claiming either the lives of Jackie or Rose yet. While that may just seem like mere luck, I believe that in addition to my presence in Rose's mind, this dormant power has also been keeping Rose safe this whole time. It had to, since the entire reason behind this power's awakening was to save those same people who've been trapped by the entity that caused this series of haunting events to happen in the first place._

 _Are you trying to suggest that this entity is somehow both enabling and preventing Rose from fulfilling this destiny of hers?_ Susan asked.

 _Exactly, my dear. Many of the most dangerous of adversaries end up doing this, sometimes by accident, and other times to give their target a false sense of hope, making them believe that they've found a way of putting a stop to their misery once and for all, only to have them face an even greater defeat which they often bring upon themselves. It gives the adversary a lot less work to do if it choses to go towards that path._

 _But could leaving the hotel be an option at this point? Would that put a stop to this cycle?_

 _I think that would actually make things worse. That young woman who died in the car accident tried to stay away from the hotel as well, and look at what happened to her. I don't want to make things any harder for Rose and Jackie by insisting that leaving Northern Horizons will do them any good._

At that moment, Truman walked in, and upon noticing the heavy look of concentration on both Susan and Rose on what appeared to be nothing in particular, he asked Jackie, "What are those two doing?"

Jackie shrugged. "As far as I know, it's some form of psychic communication."

"Certainly something only an alien and a psychic girl are able to do," Truman responded with a smile. "Was Susan the one who woke Rose up, by the way?"

"No; she awoke shortly before I got back here," Jackie answered.

"And was she also responsible for the big mess in this room?" Truman asked scowling, since he despised seeing any part of the hotel in such disarray, "Or did you somehow cause it while you were in such a panicked state?"

"There was no way I could have done this, Truman; I would have had to have gone bonkers if I was to suddenly thrash the whole room," Jackie responded, sounding as if she'd been accused of a major crime.

"No need to get worked up, Jackie. I just can't stand to see things being so out of order," Truman said, shaking his head and still frowning as he kept scanning through the place.

Meanwhile, John Smith and Susan were talking through plans of what they were to do next. _So, are you still going to want to leave Rose's head after all that just happened?_ Susan was asking.

 _After all that just happened, do you really believe this is a sensible possibility?_ John Smith responded, sounding somewhat impatient.

 _I understand, but this was the main reason why I came this far to see you. When I met up with Nina in Paris, she said that shortly after I helped Rose and her mother, I would be able to help set you free. Rose would be gaining a lot of power in a very short period of time, and while this would come along with advantages for you, it also meant that your time with her would become limited…_

 _Limited?_ John Smith demanded. _Do you mean to say that I'll have to be leaving Rose sooner than I expected? Why didn't you tell me this ahead of time, Susan? Why did you have to wait until she started having one of her more dangerous visions to let me know?_

The more John Smith got upset, the harder Rose found it to remain focused on what he and Susan were saying. As a result, she now turned her gaze toward the pink dress she was supposed to wear for the Christmas party, and started noticing that what had looked like a splatter of ink now formed something much clearer: letters, based on what she was able to see. They were messy and bloated, yet still formed some sort of message.

 _Rose? Are you still listening to us?_ John Smith asked her in a gentle tone then he'd been using with Susan.

 _I'm trying to,_ Rose said, but deep down, she wished that she could just focus on what was around her for the moment. Things were already complicated as it was without hearing an alien and his estranged granddaughter go over all the scary stuff that had been happening to her.

 _Well, did you just hear what I was telling Susan about my time with you?_

 _Our time together? Are you trying to say that you've been with me for too long now?_ She may not have been able to hear every word, but she'd understood that the time John Smith had spent in her mind was coming into question.

 _Although I'm going to do the best I can to remain inside of you now that you're in danger, I can't promise you that I'll be able to stick around much longer after that._

Rose now got a sad look in her face as she said, _But how do you know that?_

 _Nina, who held my grandfather in her mind before he came into yours, told me upon my arrival on Earth_ , Susan explained. _She'd contacted me telepathically with some help from Grandfather's TARDIS, and when I came to Paris, she helped me come in contact with him, much of which I'd been able to do when he remained in a dormant state. Nina also managed to foretell some of what's going on right now, including how you were to become much more powerful in the months to come, and how this would limit how long Grandfather would be able to stay inside of you._

 _And how long will that be?_ Rose demanded.

 _I have no idea at the moment,_ Susan responded. _However, we have come up with a plan for how we'll approach this. Tell her now, Grandfather._

 _So what we decided is to have the party go on as usual,_ John Smith said. _Truman will contact Victoria and Laura and apologize for the way he treated them, and as a result, both will be able to provide much needed help to your mother and the other guests should anything bad happen. Also, I'm going to help you get in contact with Christine, Sarah Jane, Clara, Allison, and maybe even Nina if possible. By doing so, you'll make it harder for this spirit to bring you down because your communication with other psychics can serve as a shield that can protect you from paranormal attacks of any kind._

 _But will I only be in contact with them telepathically, or will they have to come to Northern Horizons? Since Christine's in Florida and Sarah Jane is supposed to be going on a trip to her sister and dad, the only people who would be able to help are Alison and Clara._

 _There's no need for them to ever set foot in the hotel, Rose, although it could be a big help to us if they could show up. Simply communicating with them telepathically will be enough to…_

Before she knew it, Rose caught herself staring at the pink gown once again, and the writing was now clearer than it was before, all written in blotted capital letters:

DAB FLOW

"Rose, is something wrong?" Susan asked her out loud.

"What's going on, Susan?" Jackie demanded firmly, with a dark look in her eyes which hadn't been there before.

But Rose failed to respond for a while. Then, she heard a horrifying hissing voice saying, _Cry wolf all you want, Bad Wolf, but when trouble comes, no one will want to listen to you, as all the guests of the 1924 New Year's Eve party and Jean Purdue learned the hard way._ This was followed by a wild laughter which sounded like the combination of screaming and howling, and grew louder and more disturbing as it went on.

Deeply disturbed by this, Rose placed her hands around her ears and yelled, "No! Stop it! Just leave me alone!"

 _Never!_ The sharp hissing voice yelled. _You'll be haunted by your powers and their consequences for as long as you live, Bad Wolf!_

Rose then let out a shattering scream which caught the attention of everyone in the room, and as she did so, the glass of the mirror started cracking apart, followed by the tumbling of all the clothes which remained in the wardrobe, and the tearing of the pink dress, being slowly reduced to shreds, but with the black ink remaining as clear as ever.

"Rose!" Jackie yelled, sounding more outraged than concerned as she gripped her daughter by the shoulders. "Rose, what they done to you?"

"Jackie, be careful with her!" Susan said, placing an arm around Jackie's shoulder. "In the state she's in, you could cause some serious harm…"

Before she could go on, however, she felt the sting of Jackie's hand around her cheek for the second time that day, followed by a raging and barely human voice yelling out, "Get the hell away from my daughter, you old witch! Your meddling has caused nothing but chaos ever since I first laid eyes on you! But now, I've had enough. If I see you here one more time, I swear I'll kill you!"

Susan then backed away with fear, remaining speechless. This couldn't be Jackie speaking; she may have had a dark side, but it was nowhere near as cold and menacing as this.

Rose, who was now crying, called out, "Mummy, leave her alone! She's our friend! She never meant to hurt us!"

"Jackie, listen to your daughter," Truman insisted. "Susan really doesn't mean to cause any harm to you or your daughter!"

"Shut up!" Jackie screamed, holding up a baseball bat that had been under the bed a while before, just as her face was flashing red with the darkest rage she'd ever experienced in her life. "If the two of you don't get out of our room right now, I'll swing this bat right into your faces, and then you'll know better than to mess with my daughter! Am I understood?"

Truman then held Susan's hand. "I suggest we do as she says right now, Susan."

"I agree," Susan said, her eyes now filled with tears. "But shouldn't we first…?"

" _Get out of here right now!"_ called out the exact same hissing voice Rose heard earlier, only now coming through Jackie's lips as she continued to hold the baseball bat in the air.

With the two of them holding tightly unto each other's shoulders, Truman and Susan raced out of the room, coming across not that differently from Victoria and Laura when they'd been threatened by Truman himself a while before.

Once in the lobby, Susan finally spoke up, saying, "That wasn't Jackie acting out, Truman! I heard the voice of the entity from before coming across very clearly just now, and there was this rage running through her which seemed so unnatural for someone of her temperament. I think it actually possessed her just now."

"I think you may be right, Susan. Jackie can be a tough one sometimes, but never in a menacing way," Truman responded. "However, I still think it's best if you stay away for a while, at least until I know that Jackie is herself once again."

"You're right," Susan said softly. Then, with a kind look towards him, she said, "Thank you for all the help you gave me today, and I'm sorry if I came across as too threatening earlier on."

Truman gave her a small smile and said, "All's forgiven. If anything, you proved to be quite a strong alien over there. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Truman, and don't forget about the people you yourself owe an apology to," Susan said with a mischievous smile as she started walking towards the exit.

"I won't forget," Truman called back, making a mental note to himself to call Victoria and Laura as soon as possible. Even if his moment of rage wasn't as bad as Jackie Tyler's just now, it still scared them a great deal, and he owed them a lot on account of that.

Meanwhile, almost as soon as the moment of rage was over, Jackie was left trembling and silent for a long time, unable to comprehend what she'd just done. Then, as her senses started slowly returning to her, and she gained awareness of what happened, she looked with fear all around her. And upon seeing Rose seated on her bed, with her arms around Snoopy as she was quietly sobbing, she immediately embraced her daughter and cried, "Oh, baby! I'm so sorry that I scared you that way! I really don't know what came over me just then. It felt as if something dark and evil had taken over me, making me act so horribly ever anyone who came across as a threat."

"It's not your fault, Mummy," Rose said softly. "There's something terrible haunting this place. I saw some of what it's been doing in my vision, but I think it will only get worse if we leave. That's what John Smith thinks."

"But what could we possibly do, love? How will we survive Northern Horizons now?" Jackie asked desperately.

"John Smith says he'll put me in contact with other psychics, since he thinks it will make it harder for the thing in this place to continue bothering me," Rose explained.

"Well, let's hope John Smith is right, because I have a feeling it may take more than just that to overcome something as evil as this," Jackie said, keeping her arms around her daughter, and for the first time, wishing that she'd never decided to work at Northern Horizons.


	34. Chapter 34

**Longview, Florida**

In Burrows Park, which was usually bustling with lively children and their caretakers during the daytime, nearly everyone left once the sun could be seen setting from the large open field where school and YMCA sports teams would often gather for games. As much as the people of Longview took pride in the fair weather they received, it was custom to get back indoors by eight at the latest unless it was some special occasion. As the sheriff of the Longview Police Department liked to put it: "It's better to spend Friday nights cruising through your neighbor's liquor cabinet than through Burrows Park. There's something about that place which makes it unapproachable after the sun sets."

However, this wasn't enough to draw away Christine Green and Harry Sullivan, who liked going on both early morning and evening walks whenever the weather was right. On this particular evening, in which it was sixty degrees and nearly every house in sight was adorned with Christmas lights, they decided to avoid staying within the boundaries of the homes and fences and to set foot in Burrows Park, seeing for themselves what made it so eerie during the night.

"I don't see what the big deal is so far, Doc," Christine remarked once they were approaching the empty playground and tennis courts, which made up the entrance of the park. "The creepiest thing about the park right now is that it's so quiet that you can hear the crickets chipping."

"Oh, really, Christine? The fact that the place keeps getting darker by the minute doesn't even slightly scare you?" Harry asked, making sure to keep her as close to his side as he could. Although he wouldn't admit it to Christine, these sort of isolated places used to frighten him back when he was young. As much as he would try to convince himself that the neighborhood boys' stories of the monsters which stalked the cornfields after sunset couldn't possibly be true, he would never dare to walk around there at night. Now, after everything he'd seen and learned about all the dangerous things which actually were out there, walking around in the dark was nothing to him.

"I think I get more scared when it's light out and I can hear the thoughts of everyone that's walking outside and see how they keep getting bad ideas about us," Christine said.

Ever since they'd returned from London, Christine's powers hadn't been the same as they once were. While before, the thoughts she heard from people's minds were random, she'd now started hearing more of people's negative thoughts, which often involved gossip, complaints, insults, and even blunt remarks of discrimination and intention to hurt others. After she repeated something very explicit which had been scaring her to Harry, he'd grown very worried and starting limiting the amount of time they went out in public. This was what had led them to start going on these walks more often than before, which in addition to allowing them to spend time on their own, also appeared to have a calming effect on Christine, who would become less anxious and frightened after doing so.

However, such actions didn't go unnoticed in a town like Longview. People had already started raising questions when Christine left school and started being looking after a British doctor, and now that they saw her being cooped up at home more often than usual after getting back from a "vacation", their curiosity spiked up even more. They started demanding to know exactly who Harry was and what he'd been doing with Christine, and would bring their questions to Patti Green while she was at work, and upon failing to get satisfying enough answers from her would turn over to her neighbors, who provided them with more vivid, although not completely accurate, details.

All this led the people of Longview to draw their own conclusions. Some believed that Christine had a rare disease for which only a foreign doctor was able to treat her using medicine which had yet to be approved by the FDA, while others believed that she was becoming mentally ill and that Harry was supposed to be monitoring her so she wouldn't hurt herself. Some even thought he'd been abusing her in some way, and that Christine stayed close to him because she was being forced to. Either way, they were highly convinced that something was wrong with Christine, and that Harry Sullivan had to be more than what he seemed.

"I can't say I disagree with you," Harry said as he thought about all this. "People in towns like this can get some very strange ideas just based on what they hear, and sometimes it's better to be alone once in a while."

"Yeah," Christine remarked.

"But overall, are you feeling okay, Christine? Do you think staying away from other people has been doing you any good?"

"I think it's helped a little," Christine answered. "When I started hearing nothing but bad thoughts all the time, it was hard for me to forget about them. They would keep running through my mind like echoes almost all day long, and that's why I started feeling scared more often before. But now that we don't go out as often when others are around, I feel calmer, and when we are around other people, I don't hear their bad thoughts as much as I did before."

"That's great to hear, old girl," Harry said, stroking her hair. "Let's hope that you continue getting better as time goes on. And don't hesitate to tell me when something scary starts happening again, got it?

"Got it," Christine said with a smile.

A moment of silence followed as she and Harry walked further through the park. And then, as she paused to take a look at the full moon, she heard a familiar voice calling out through her mind, _Christine? Christine, can you hear me?_

 _Rose?_ Christine answered back telepathically, standing still as she did so. _Is that really you?_

 _Yes. I've been living in Northern Horizons for a while now, and there's been a lot of creepy things going on in there._

 _But how are you able to talk with me right now?_

 _John Smith says that telepathic talk can be send out to other psychics who are miles away because our powers allow us to stay connected to each other no matter where we may be._

 _I see. So what's happening there lately?_

 _I found out why all that scary stuff in Northern Horizons keeps happening. You see, something terrible happened there a long time ago during a New Year's Eve party where someone was…_

"Christine?" she heard Harry asking her in a concerned voice. "What's going on? You look like you're hearing things again."

"Harry, I can hear Rose talking to me," Christine said

"Talking to you? But how…?"

"She's doing it telepathically, just like that old friend of yours that you told me about was able to do" Christine started to explain.

"No, I understand that," Harry said. He remembered how Sarah Jane had told him that she was able to communicate telepathically with her grandmother even when they were miles apart, and how his relationship with Sarah Jane had been one of the many things about his past which he'd admitted to Christine after the incident with the mysterious Time Lady occurred. As a result, the fact that Christine could still get in contact with Rose wasn't what surprised him. "What I'm wondering is why she's doing it now of all times, when she could have started doing so the moment we came back to Florida."

"I don't know why she didn't do it sooner, but she just told me that she's talking to me because she found out what's behind the scary stuff which we went through at Northern Horizons," Christine told him.

"So, there really was something funny going on there all along," Harry said. "I had a feeling about that a couple of times when we were there, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions without evidence, thinking that it was mainly due to Clara and Rose's abilities. In that case, she really does have something important to tell you. Go ahead and listen then, since we need to understand what happened there just as much as Rose does."

 _Rose, can you go on again?_ Christine asked, since Rose had come to a pause once she realized that someone had been talking to her.

 _All right,_ Rose said. _So, what happened is this…_

 **Heathrow Airport, England**

As Harry Sullivan and Christine Green were on their evening walk in Florida, Sarah Jane Smith was preparing to take off on a Christmas trip to visit her father and her sister Rebecca, who were now living in Washington DC, where Hannah worked as a political analyst for the past two years. The recent U.S. election had left her extremely busy that year, to the point where she didn't have the time to have Sarah Jane come over. However, now that it was all over, she thought that she could make up for the time they couldn't spend together by having Sarah Jane stay with her for three weeks, and Sarah Jane didn't hesitate to accept this offer.

Along with Sarah Jane was Violet Marsh, who'd come by to help her with her luggage as well as say goodbye to her. Violet had never liked airports or planes much, despite having gone on them dozens as part of music tours and family trips, since they made her impatient due to their unpredictable schedules and her time on planes usually resulted in the few times in which she'd gotten seriously sick, so Sarah Jane knew that the sooner she could get into her flight without any issues, the better it would be for everyone involved, since no one wanted to put up with Violet when she became crabby.

"Well, Sarah, I can't say I envy you in the slightest," Violet said as she glanced around the busy airport with an impatient look on her face. "The way things are looking around here, it looks like you'll be waiting for an additional two hours, since flights are nearly always late now that everyone's going on winter holidays."

"Now Violet, that's only happened to me two times in the dozens of plane trips I've been on, and none of those times occurred during Christmas time," Sarah Jane said with a smile, determined not to let Violet go overboard with her complaints.

"And strangely enough, you weren't able to foresee any of those occasions," Violet remarked, making sure to keep her voice down as she told Sarah Jane this. "That just goes to prove that there probably is something evil about planes, don't you think?"

"I'm pretty sure we've encountered more evil forces than planes. Don't tell me you've forgotten Daniel More, or the Trickster, or that spooky troll-like creature who roamed around Monroeville for months before I was able to catch it," Sarah Jane said quietly, recalling some of the adversaries they'd had to face during their university years.

"Oh, those old bastards have provoked plenty of nightmares over the years, but at least you were able to tell that there was something wrong with them before they started in on their evil crusades," Violet said. "You've always said that the most dangerous of incidents often occur when you can't get even the slightest hint that something's not right."

"Now Violet, everything's going to be fine," Sarah Jane insisted. "If my flight is late, it will be sure to arrive at some point, and I won't be bored in the meantime because I'll have you around to keep me amused. And if I lose my luggage, I can contact an airline worker to recover it for me or else buy anything which I don't manage to get back. I'm going to be seeing Dad and Rebecca once again, and I don't want to let a couple of worries over incidents which are very unlikely to happen ruin it all for me."

"But I'm not just thinking about your flight," Violet said. "There's just something about how things are going this year, with you being perfectly well, Tom and I have having no troubles of our own, and everyone smiling and all happy everywhere I look that's making me feel a little suspicious about the state of things."

Sarah Jane laughed. "Are my powers starting to rub off on you a little, Violet?"

"I think they started rubbing off on me a long time ago, Sarah," Violet said, chuckling back. "For as long as I've known the truth about you, and especially now after finding out about Rose, I'm never able to go through an ordinary day without getting this queasy feeling in my stomach on account of not knowing what to expect, and Tom and the kids admit to feeling the same way as well."

"It may be tough for you, but just imagine what it's like for me, never knowing when exactly my powers will strike once again, and as of now, always wondering what exactly Rose is…"

And just as she was saying this, Sarah Jane heard that small, timid voice ringing through her mind once again, calling out as urgently as it could: _Sarah Jane? Sarah Jane, can you hear me?_

It was Rose Tyler, doing exactly what Sarah Jane had told her to do during times of trouble upon finding out about her powers several months ago.

 _Yes, Rose,_ Sarah Jane called back immediately, pushing aside her worries over what was possibly happening to the little girl and going forward on fulfilling the promise she made to protect Rose whenever she needed it. _I'm listening perfectly well to what you're saying. Now go ahead and tell me what's wrong._

"Sarah? Is everything all right?" Violet asked cautiously, noticing how Sarah Jane's face had gotten pale and how she now had this look of deep concentration on her face. She'd known about her powers long enough to understand what was happening, but it never failed to surprise her when these moments just suddenly started going on once again.

"Let's just say you were probably right all along," Sarah Jane answered with a quick whisper. Her heart rate was accelerating steadily, and she wondering if anyone other than Violet had possibly taken notice of the state she was in, but she couldn't ignore this. If Rose needed her help, Sarah Jane was going to give it to her in any way she could.

 _Well, it turned out that Northern Horizons isn't as safe as we thought it would be,_ Rose started saying. _Just when we started living there for a while, all these strange things started happening…_

 **Blackpool, England**

"Clara, are you sure you're not feeling well today?" Ellie Oswald asked her daughter. "As far as I can see, you don't look sick at all. And taking into account all the days you already missed of school when you started seeing Dr. Sullivan, you're going to fall even further behind if you stay home today once again."

"I'm not sick with a cold or a headache or anything like that, Mummy," Clara insisted anxiously, clinging to her purple bed sheets and refusing to get up to go to school. "The sickness is in my mind, just like the first doctor we saw was thinking. Or else why are you giving me that medicine to sleep, and why do I keep having these strange dreams?"

"Oh, honey, as I've told you before, what you have isn't that serious," Ellie said softly, patting her daughter's back. "Dr. Sullivan said that what you have is possibly just a sleeping problem. It may affect how you sleep, but that doesn't mean that it should prevent you from doing the things you normally do every day. This fear you have of doing anything normal or fun is what's causing you to think you're sick, not the sleeping problem itself."

But she wasn't telling the whole truth, Clara knew this perfectly well. Dr. Sullivan and Christine had believed that something was wrong with her the whole time she was at Northern Horizons, and when Dr. Sullivan had called her parents on the exact same day that the strange woman had brought her back home, she'd noticed how worried they got once they heard everything he'd had to say about her, how her mummy turned white as a sheet and how her daddy had held her hand and kept her steady as she struggled to keep holding the phone.

However, when the call was done, they'd given Clara big smiles and told her that she simply had a sleeping problem that could be solved by taking a small pill every night. They had no idea that Clara had hidden herself in the storage closet and managed to hear Dr. Sullivan telling them the full details of what she'd done, drawing scary things and repeating strange words over and over again while she was in a state that was hard to determine. The fact that her parents would lie to her about something like this was upsetting enough for the little girl, but how they deliberately refused to tell her that her condition was actually unknown was absolutely crushing. If Clara hadn't noticed that they were doing it out of concern for her, she would gave gotten seriously angry with them, letting them know exactly what she thought, but seeing how it really was, she said nothing, waiting to see if they would eventually come clean to her at some point. This had yet to happen so far.

And then Clara started remembering all the strange dreams she was having. Some of them were actually quite fun, like watching the girl from the future who made a mess as she tried to prepare a soufflé, or seeing the girl with the old-fashioned dresses running from escapades that occurred around a schoolyard or a tavern, in which she was trying to escape from a bunch of raggedly-dressed boys. But others were very haunting, like the girl who would play sad melodies on her harmonica after she'd gotten locked up in a dark room by a woman who dressed like a queen, or the girl who would draw a jackknife from a woolen piece of cloth around her waist as she tried to defend herself from a much older boy who was beating her. There was also the fact that they all looked very similar to her, which was the hardest part for her to understand. Were all these girls supposed to be her, representing all the different adventures she might have at some point, or were they completely different individuals who probably had something important in common with her? And why did she suddenly dream of Rose once? Could it be that she had something to do with all this…?

"Clara, is everything okay now? Do you still want to stay home, or would you rather go to school?" her mummy asked gently.

"I don't know! If you really think I should go to school, then just take me. At least then I won't have to worry about having the crazy dreams if I fall asleep again," Clara decided hesitantly.

"Now that's a good girl!" Ellie said with a bright smile as she helped Clara out of bed. "You'll now have something that will keep you busy and possibly even happy once again. Dr. Sullivan said that this is possibly the best thing we can do for you, and I completely agree with it."

"I hope that's true," Clara said, trudging along by her mother's side and thinking that perhaps she was right on this point; maybe she really did have to stick to her old routine if she wanted things to get back to normal again.

However, once she was dressed and washed up for school, had her breakfast, and was preparing to get on the car with her mummy to go to school, the bad stuff started happening once again. As they were going down the steps of the porch to head towards the car, Clara found herself stepping on a small pebble, and then tripping down the steps, skinning one of her knees as she fell.

"Clara!" her mummy yelled out in concern, immediately kneeling by her side. "Sweetheart, are you hurt?"

But before she could even start crying in pain, Clara noticed everything starting to get blurry, just as often occurred right before she was about to have one of her episodes. Before long, she could no longer see her mummy or even her front yard, but rather an elegant yet slightly messy room where Rose Tyler, wearing a school uniform and seated in a small wooden chair, was looking up at her with a small smile.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, Clara," she said in a friendly voice.

"Yeah, and the last time you saw me was in my dreams," Clara answered angrily. "Why don't you just tell what's actually going on before I smack you awake?"

At this point, Rose's smile dropped, replaced by a look of deep concern. "Well, first of all, you didn't really see me in a dream, but in a vision which we were both sharing. And also, you're in Northern Horizons right now, and I want to explain to you what's been happening in here all along."

"Will that include the scary stuff that happened to me while I was staying there?" Clara asked firmly.

"Yes. To start with, I know what you were actually saying while you were acting strangely," Rose said.

"And what was that?" Clara asked.

"Dab flow, which is actually "Bad Wolf" spelled backwards," Rose explained. "There are these little girl ghosts I met here who explained this to me, and showed how it has to do with some power I have which is supposed to have them and some other ghosts who have been stuck in the hotel for years."

"Ghosts," Clara said with a hint of a smile. "I guess that means that things are really crazy in that hotel."

"It sure is," Rose said. "And just wait until you hear the whole story…"


	35. Chapter 35

**Edmund Woods Academy, England**

"I think I agree with Jane Austen when she said that no one other than herself could ever like Emma Woodhouse," Rhonda Barron, a year eleven student in Victoria Harris' British Literature class, responded when Victoria asked the class what they thought over the development of the titular character in Jane Austen's novel. "She seems like nothing more than a spoiled posh girl who may act as if she cares about people when she really just wants them to fit her standards of how someone of that society should be like, or else she becomes very judgmental towards to them."

"That's a good reflection, Rhonda, but wouldn't you say there are moments when Emma wanted to go against societal expectations, like when she wanted to set Harriet Smith up with Mr. Elton despite her social status being unknown at the time?" Victoria asked in response. She always loved hearing the different opinions people had on this novel, especially since her own perceptions of it had changed rather drastically since she first read it at the age of twelve due to her desire to read a "novel for ladies". Back then, Emma Woodhouse seemed like the kind of woman she aspired to be: a sophisticated, wealthy woman who knew perfectly where she stood in the world and wanted to help all those around her find as much happiness as she did. Now, she blushed over her old admiration for her (in no small part because when she gave the novel to Jamie, he thrusted the book onto the floor as hard as he could and asked her how it was possibly that she could like a book that was so dull and prissy), having a similar opinion as Rhoda had, but with perhaps a little more understanding towards Emma's personality and circumstances, due to living so close to Austen's time in her early years as much as her old prissy personality.

"As far as I'm concerned, Emma seems to think that she can use Harriet to the best of her ability because she sees Harriet as a simple and silly girl who just wants to follow her blindly," Rhoda answered. "If she could have ended up with Mr. Elton, Emma would have been happy mainly because she was once again right, not so much because a lower class girl would be marrying a rich man. At one point, Emma even wishes that she was like Harriet just so she wouldn't feel so upset all the time. To her, it's all about knowing your place or else being a threat to her, as she saw Jane Fairfax and then Mrs. Elton."

"I agree. She uses people all the time," Daniella Johnson said. "I'll even say that she makes me like Fanny Price from _Mansfield Park_ a lot more now."

Victoria laughed. "Well, I warned you all that you'd see Emma Woodhouse as a controversial character. I will admit that my feelings about her have changed quite a lot since the first time I read the novel. Back when I was a teenager, I had this desire for all things glamorous, and so to me…"

But before she could finish this statement, the brisk voice of Madeline Whitman, the headmistress, came through the loudspeakers, announcing, "Miss Harris, may you please report to the office immediately?"

Victoria glanced around the place anxiously. "Well, class, we'll have to hold back our discussion for a while. I'll be right back as soon as possible."

Rhonda examined her closely as she left. "Miss Harris, is there something wrong which you don't want to tell us about?" she asked.

"I have no idea, Rhonda," Victoria admitted. "But hopefully, everything's going to be okay for me." She then went through the door and rushed over to the headmistress' office.

Mrs. Whitman, a tall and plump woman with a stern demeanor yet a deep concern for the teachers and pupils of her school, gave Victoria a concerned look as she entered. "I just got a call from a Laura Benton, Victoria, and she said that she had to speak urgently with you on an important matter. I have no idea whether this means good or bad news."

"Oh, dear," Victoria responded worriedly. She'd thought all her major problems would be over after she'd admitted the truth about herself to Laura and her uncle John during her dinner with them and then got a call from Michael Truman apologizing for what he'd done to them at Northern Horizons and letting them off the hook for all they'd done on that day. There were some issues going on with Rose on account of her happening to have the Doctor inside her mind (a story that Victoria had found both very amusing and scary), but Laura had insisted that she shouldn't worry too much about it, since UNIT would be handling the situation to the best of their ability.

Upon answering the phone, however, Laura sounded quite cheerful. "How's everything going, Victoria? It feels like a while since we've last spoken, hasn't it?"

Victoria chuckled. "Laura, you had me very worried for a while," she said. "I almost thought you were going to inform me about an alien invasion or something else of serious concern."

"Well, if you want to know the truth, what I have to tell you could come across as both good and bad news. Think you can handle hearing the whole thing, Victorian girl, or are you still vulnerable from your last big scare?"

"Now, Laura, I thought I told you that I'd become a lot bolder from my twenty-four years of stranded on modern day Earth," Victoria insisted, keeping her voice down so that Mrs. Whitman wouldn't be able to hear everything she was saying. "How do you think I could have been able to knock out Elaine if I hadn't had all this time to learn?"

Laura laughed. "You have a point there. Anyway, part of the big news as that UNIT has finally been able to locate the TARDIS. It's in Paris, being kept in an alley by a gypsy named Nina Bonville, just as we'd originally heard from Jo Jones."

"That's good to know. And was it Nina that contacted UNIT?" Victoria wanted to know.

"It was her and one of the Doctor's more recent assistants that got in touch with UNIT," Laura explained. "The other one they heard from was Dorothy Mcshane, better known to the Doctor as Ace. They're both very feisty ones according to Uncle John, and they're willing to meet us up in England if they're able to get the TARDIS working on their own."

"And UNIT is seriously going to consider letting them do it?" Victoria asked.

"Of course not, but they're so determined to go through with it that Uncle John is wondering whether sending in five UNIT troops over to Paris to help them was really necessary," Laura said, clearly amused by the whole incident.

"Well, neither Jamie nor I ever learned how to work the TARDIS on our own, so as much as I hope these two ladies will be successful, I can't expect them to be able to do it alone," Victoria said.

"The thing is, Nina insists that she's been able to make a psychic connection with the Doctor, and that he's giving her instructions on how to operate the TARDIS, which leads me to the bad news on this whole situation."

"And what is that?"

"The Doctor's time inside Rose's mind is being limited. He's determined to stay long enough to help Rose fight off whatever it is that's haunting Northern Horizons, but he really has no idea when he might be sucked out of her," Laura explained.

"That's going to leave Rose at a major disadvantage if he does so. She'll probably be left defenseless," Victoria responded worriedly.

"Which is why the Doctor has enabled Rose to communicate with several other psychics she's met, including Sarah Jane Smith, another former companion," Laura said. "From what I heard from Heather Marsh, one of the students here at St. Teresa's, Rose already managed to contact her yesterday, just as Sarah Jane was preparing to leave for Washington DC."

"Did Sarah Jane still leave after getting her message?" Victoria asked.

"She did, since her physical presence isn't required for her to be able to help Rose out. However, according to Heather's mother, who was with Sarah Jane at the airport, a storm in Florida caused the flight to go down, and she's now going to have to wait a couple of days for another flight to DC to arrive," Laura answered.

"Sounds like bad luck," Victoria said.

"It sure does indeed, Victoria, but believe it or not, that's still not all," Laura said. "You know that woman I told you about who showed up in Uncle John's house while Harry Sullivan was visiting us and admitted to being a Time Lord by giving us a note?"

"Yes, I remember. Did you end up finding out who she was?"

"She happens to be none other than the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman," Laura responded. "On the day when Truman gave us those calls apologizing for what he'd done, Uncle John says that she showed up once again and told him that because she'd just revealed her identity to Rose Tyler, she was now going to tell him the truth about herself, and man, did she tell him a lot."

"Did she explain anything about what was going on with the Doctor?" Victoria asked. She remembered the Doctor talking about having a family that he missed during her travels, but he'd never given her their names or what specifically it was that they did. In the mid-eighties, when she came in contact with Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart while he was visiting New York with his family, he'd given information on the Time Lords and the planet Gallifrey, but he never said anything about the Doctor's family, leading her to assume that when the Doctor spoke of a family, he may have simply been referring to the Time Lords in general or a group of close friends he'd had while in Gallifrey.

"He was in quite a bit of trouble when he returned to Earth. The Time Lords tried to assassinate him, and just at the moment he was supposed to die, he somehow turned invisible and ended up on Earth while still in such a state. Getting inside Nina's head was what ended up saving his life."

"Oh, goodness!" Victoria exclaimed. So much for the Time Lords being like family to him.

"Susan's now in UNIT HQ, giving assistance to all troops on what's going on and what their next course of action should be. According to Uncle John, she's just as capable of leading as the Doctor is, even though she does have some of her own eccentricities, her wanting to keep her identity a secret for so long being just one of them," Laura went on.

Victoria laughed. "I don't have a hard time imagining that."

"Neither do I, and I only know about the Doctor from Uncle John's stories," Laura said. "My dad used to hate it when he would tell them to me and my brothers, saying that they were nothing but nonsense, but part of me always believed that there had to be some truth to them. After all, Uncle John always seemed to be coming across one scrape or another at work, and no other soldier I've heard of ever faces that much trouble if they're confined to the countryside of England the whole time."

"You make a good point there, Laura. Also, I understand perfectly well what it's like to have someone not believing your stories," Victoria said, with unpleasant memories of her time with the Harris' starting to be triggered.

"So, that's all I can tell you for the moment. Better have you getting back to class. I know for sure that Sister Margaret must be worried about what's taking me so long, since I'm supposed to be helping out with a lesson on artistic achievements during the Renaissance era" Laura said.

"And my students are probably just the same, especially since I left them after a lively discussion on _Emma,"_ Victoria said with a smile.

"Of course you'd want to teach your class that one, Victorian girl," Laura said laughing. "What better way to have secondary school students learn about the limitations of matchmaking and the importance of sticking to social norms then to read that book? A call back to the good old days, isn't it?"

"Now, Laura, I just wanted to show them all what they can learn from a character that displays so much contradictions, making her friends happy while also looking down on others at the same time," Victoria said. "And the more I read it, the more I'm glad that society has gotten as far as it did in the past seventy hundred years. I've probably changed just as much as the norms have changed."

"You can say that again. And by the way, did you ever meet Jane Austen during your travels?"

"No," Victoria admitted. "I really wanted to, but the Doctor couldn't get the TARDIS to go to her time period. Also, Jamie insisted that if he ever did meet Jane Austen, then he'd give her a piece of his mind over how dreadful he believed _Emma_ was. Let's just say he didn't share my fondness for the book."

"Who could blame him? I certainly found myself hating Emma Woodhouse when I read that book in sixth form," Laura said. "Now, it was fun getting to talk to you again, Victoria, but I really should get going. Goodbye, and I hope we'll be able to sort out this whole business with Rose soon."

"Goodbye, Laura, and I promise to be as much help to you as I can," Victoria said before hanging up and getting back to her class.


	36. Chapter 36

**Paris, France, two days earlier**

If the average person were to suddenly have an eccentric middle-aged man with a Scottish accent who happened to be invisible to the rest of the world appearing before their eyes, and then found a 1960s British Police Box stationed right before the tent which served as their temporary home, Nina was sure they would have gone mad.

However, things were different for Nina. Not only had she never lived in a permanent home in all her thirty-two years in this world, traveling all across France and parts of Europe with bands of fellow gypsies for most of her life, but she also happened to see dozens of images and beings which few others were capable of seeing, from visions of the police coming over to remove her family from their current dwelling area to having her dead grandfather appearing to her in a dream, where he was so delighted to finally have a word with the granddaughter he never got to meet in person. As a result, her meeting with this alien known as the Doctor, who remained implanted in her mind for several months, was taken as one of her most amusing encounters, rather than something out of the _Alien_ movies. After all, this was an alien who'd traveled to several different planets over time, and was familiar with nearly every language in the universe, so this had allowed her to form a bond with him which she never would've thought possible with anyone else.

But of course, he could only stay within her mind for a limited time. Nina had made a psychic connection with a young child, as such were the only human beings who could keep the Doctor alive for so long, and send him off to a little English girl named Rose Tyler, which turned to be very convenient for the Doctor on account of his claim that England was his favorite country (something which Nina could never understand, partly due to French prejudices against the British and partly because her previous experiences with British tourists in Paris had been unpleasant to say the least). But when he'd left, she'd agreed to look after his police box, which he called the TARDIS, and within the last two years, she'd actually made it her home.

Despite its simple exterior, it was what was inside this police box that really counted. The amazing counsel room, which was fully white, shaped like a dome, and contained a device that allowed you to operate the TARDIS and take it anywhere you wanted, was just part of its appeal. It also contained a swimming pool, a library with books in dozens of languages (and as someone who knew four languages, she had plenty of reading options), and a state-of-the-art cinema which showed everything from _The_ _Umbrellas of Cherbourg_ to _Goodfellas._ As someone who'd never had much luxuries, this was the equivalent of finding your own castle to Nina, and she enjoyed everything this place had to offer.

However, what she wanted above all else was to get the TARDIS to take her to one of the many places across time and space which the Doctor had told her about. She would sometimes spend hours going over every button and lever in the counsel room, reading through some of the manuals and books the Doctor left behind which explained how these machines worked, all in the hope that it could do something. But the most she could get it to do was make these strange whooshing sounds anytime she pulled a lever. As someone who loved being able to accomplish things on her own, it frustrated Nina to know that two years had gone by without her getting the _bete*_ machine to work even once.

But due to a chance encounter, this was all about to change.

...

It all started as Nina was heading towards the Pain et Lait** café, where she went to have her breakfast, or _petit dejeuner,_ at least once a week. As someone whose main source of income came from selling homemade jewelry at flea markets, she was required to rise early on the days when she had to work, and there usually wasn't enough time to prepare breakfast. At the Pain et Lait café, not only was it cheaper than other cafes in Paris, but it also opened as early as dawn, permitting her to go early and not have to worry about the curious glances and questions she sometimes got from onlookers. If the Parisians didn't outright hate gypsies, they still saw them as one would see exotic creatures: rare, fascinating, and outside of the norm. Although this was an expected reaction, it still didn't make Nina dislike it any less.

And that morning, when she noticed two solitary, elderly men sitting in separate tables as they read their morning papers and took slow sips of their steaming hot coffee, Nina did her best to avoid meeting their gaze. To her luck, the men didn't seem to take any interest in her, completely ignoring her messy dark hair and her old brown dress as they continued to read their newspapers. As far as Nina was concerned, there hadn't been much interesting news in the year following up the breakup of the Soviet Union, but she figured once you were as old as those men, you had to keep yourself interested in something if you wanted to live so long. The Doctor had emphasized that strongly enough.

However, there happened to be a new server this week. She was a chunky blonde girl, probably in her early twenties if not still a teenager. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing the blue dress and white apron which were worn by all female employees. Nina instantly noticed that she was grunting as she was shuffling through the kitchen supplies, and even heard her muttering in English, "Great. Here comes another stiff old French snob."

Nina happened to have learned English from watching American gangster/action films like _The Godfather, Taxi Driver,_ and _Scarface_ back when she was a teenager, which she thought to portray a world that was very familiar to her, with tough-as-nails protagonists, dangerous foes in every corner, and situations where you had to commit questionable deeds just to get by in the world. For some reason, she felt as if this was a girl who could have stepped straight out of these films. You could see it in that gruff look in her eyes and her contemptuous tone of voice as she questioned her next customer, all of which were noticeable in individuals who had seen too much of the world.

But her accent was neither American nor Italian, but English, which was rather unusual to Nina. Whenever she thought of the Brits, the first thing that came to her mind was fancy period dramas and a love for tea, not streetwise wanderers. And with her past experiences with these people, she was probably going to have to watch out for this girl.

But when the girl came up to serve, she had this awkward smile plastered on her face as she said, "Bonjour, Madame. What may I get you today?"

 _Madame, ha! She either believes I'm married or doesn't know French that well,_ Nina thought. But out loud, she said, "Bonjour, Cherie. Could I please two crepes, one with chocolate filling and another strawberry, and one medium coffee with crème and sugar."

The girl wrinkled her nose when Nina called her "Cherie", but maintained a hospitable appearance as she said, "That will be right up, Madame." And before she went off to give Nina's order to the cooks, Nina noticed that her name tag read "Dorothy".

Dorothy. For such a plain name, it was associated with some of the strongest personalities Nina had ever heard of. For instance, there was Dorothy Parker, the influential journalist and writer, as well as Dorothy Day, the social activist who also happened to be a journalist. And then of course, there was the lovely Dorothy Gale who discovered the magical land of Oz. And at one point, she remembered the Doctor bringing up someone called Dorothy, who disliked the name so much that she went by a nickname that she felt better suited her personality…

And suddenly, Nina started remembering certain things. Recently, she would often wake up in the middle of the night feeling overwhelmed and confused and not knowing why she felt that way, leaving her to think that she'd just been having disturbing dreams. But now, she could remember the voice of the Doctor calling out urgently, _Nina, I don't have much time left! You must find some way to help Rose and me before it's too late._

That made one thing clear: The Doctor wasn't going to be able to survive in Rose's mind long enough. The two of them had encountered trouble of some kind that had made things too overwhelming for the girl, and since much of the cerebral power that had previously been used in keeping the Doctor soundly stored within her mind was now being used to help her resist some sort of paranormal force, the Doctor's days with Rose were now being numbered, and if something wasn't done soon enough, his life could be at risk as well.

But then there had been another frequent vision which Nina had: of a young girl who was running from someone or something during the night. At one point, triggered by fear, she would always jump up, keeping her eyes fixed towards the moon as she did so. Suddenly, as if through a sudden puff in the air, the girl was replaced by a light-colored wolf, who would always appear golden because of the moonlight. Once reaching the ground, it would howl intensely, not taking its eyes off the direction of the moon. Then, it would turn to look at its persecutor with its sharp white teeth becoming fully visible. But at the point when it started running once again, the vision would come to a halt.

What could that possibly mean? Could the wolf be the symbol of an immortal being? Nina remembered how in the novel _Dracula,_ vampires could transform into wolves, and although this was supposed to stand for evil, she didn't believe that this represented all immortal beings. Or perhaps this was supposed to represent a misunderstood person with strong powers who found themselves defenseless when facing those who feared or hated them, resulting in them…

And just then, four teenaged boys who were dressed in the style of eighties rockers walked into the café, and upon seeing Dorothy, they gave off those smiles which were characteristic of troublemakers, including those in gangster movies. "Bonjour, Mademoiselle Dorothy!" they shouted out in faux cockney accents, then started laughing hysterically.

Dorothy shot a frown at them. "Hey! I thought I told you scum bags that you can't come back if all you're going to do is act like idiots!"

" _Excusez- moi. Ne parle pas anglais_!" one of the guys called out, resulting in more laughter from the others.

"Oh, so you want to hear me speak French? Is that it?" Dorothy demanded. "Well, how about this? _Parlez vous a moi, imbecile? Parlez vous a moi?"_ Then, she pulled out a small can of some sort of spray and aimed it at the boys.

"Hey! What are you doing with that?" The same guy who'd spoken before asked urgently.

"If you don't shut up, I'll spray this in your faces and you'll have troubling seeing anything for hours afterward!" the girl said. "Now, are you still going to go on talking like idiots, are will you get out of here before I get madder?"

She didn't have to any further, however, because as soon as they heard her threat, the boys started running straight towards the door, yelling, "What the hell? Is that _fille***_ out of her mind?"

"Better to be out of your mind than to be a pack of fools!" Dorothy yelled back. The two elderly men looked at her in a rather amused manner, seemingly glad to see something interesting happening in the café for once, and despite her better judgement of the girl's behavior, Nina felt the same.

However, Claude, the tall, lanky man who was the Pain et Lait's manager, didn't looked very amused as he was suddenly standing in front of Dorothy. "Dorothy, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't go around threatening customers whenever you feel like it?" he demanded in English.

Dorothy glared at him. "For the hundredth time, Claude, the boys were the ones who started it!"

"But even when customers are rude, Dorothy, you must remain as polite as possible," Claude insisted. "Ask them why they are being so difficult, and if they don't stop, then you report them to me. What part of that is so difficult to understand?"

"That's maybe how a schoolteacher or a therapist should act, but not a server in a café!" Dorothy said. "And no matter how much times customers cause trouble before your eyes, you still act as if this is the server's fault. Four times is already enough; I'm not going to let you go on doing that any longer." She then threw her name tag and apron onto the floor with an angry smack. "I quit!"

"Now Dorothy, you don't know what you're getting yourself into!" Claude said. "How is an English girl like you going to get around Paris when you have neither friends from here nor a knowledge of the French language."

"Oh, I'll find someone to help me for sure," Dorothy responded. Then, turning to look at Nina, she said, "Perhaps you could do the honors to start with. Sound good to you?"

"Nina's a gypsy, Dorothy," Claude said. "It would be very hard for you to adapt to her lifestyle."

"Actually, Claude, I wouldn't mind having someone by side for a while," Nina said, giving Dorothy a smile. "As a matter of fact, I have a place now where I think she'll be comfortable enough."

"Well, if you insist," Claude said, looking as if he wasn't sure of this.

"And besides," Dorothy said. "I've been living like a gypsy for several years now, so I wouldn't mind her lifestyle one bit."

…

Once they were out of the café, Nina said in near perfect English, "Now Dorothy, the main reason I played along with you there is because I was aware that a job as a server doesn't suit you well at all. However, I don't know if I can have you tagging along with me all the time, unless you like the idea of selling fruit at flea markets or out in the streets."

"Anything's better than serving a bunch of rude idiots," Dorothy replied. "And believe it or not, I worked in food service before, and it didn't go any better for me back then than it did now."

"Then why did you go back to doing the same work again?" Nina asked.

"Because I was desperate for money, and Claude was the only person I'd spoken with who'd been willing to hire me. All the others turned me away as soon as they realized I couldn't speak French well enough," Dorothy said. Then, eyeing the plastic container which held the crepes Nina ordered (Dorothy's last order of business was giving Nina's order over to her, under the condition that she'd offer part of it to her). "Now, don't forget what you promised me, Nina. I'm starving, and I'm not very useful when I've got an empty stomach."

"Eat now if you want to, Dorothy," Nina said, handing her the box. "But then, we've got to talk more about where you're planning to go."

"Thanks," Ace said, taking a big bite out of a crepe as they kept walking. "But don't call me Dorothy; call me Ace."

"Ace?" Nina asked, sounding surprised. "That's funny. Someone I knew once said that he'd had a friend named Dorothy who went by Ace as well…"

And then, it hit her. Could it be possible that this girl was the same girl who'd been the Doctor's previous assistant. Now that she thought about it, this girl highly resembled the picture of Ace which had been shown through the TARDIS, which showed her to be a chunky blonde girl who was wearing a black leather jacket…

"Hold on," Dorothy said, interrupting her thoughts. "There are over a billion people in the world, and the chances of someone else named Dorothy being nicknamed Ace seem very small to me. Could it be that this friend of yours has met me before?"

"Well, I think that can be solved with one quick question," Nina said, "Do you happen to know someone who calls himself the Doctor but refuses to give out his actual name?"

When she said this, a look of astonishment shot through Dorothy's face. "Wicked!" she exclaimed. "You're the latest companion of the Professor, aren't you?"

"I was, but not in the usual sense," Nina explained. "I'll tell you more about it later, but if you want to know how much the Doctor came to relay upon me, I've currently got something of great importance to him."

"You're not talking about something simple like his time ring or one of his old sonic screwdrivers, are you?" Ace asked.

"It's something bigger than that," Nina said. "In fact, if you turn around right now, you can see it for yourself."

Ace turned around to find the TARDIS right in front of her. "All right!" she said. "I knew he would get back to me at some point! Can't wait to get started on our next…"

"Actually, Ace, the Doctor isn't here with me right now," Nina said. "He hasn't been with me for two years, as a matter of fact."

Ace frowned. "But why on Earth would he leave the TARDIS behind?"

"Because in the state he's in now, he's not able to access the TARDIS," Nina explained. "When I met him, he was a host in my mind, incapable of getting around in a physical state after something that had happened to him in Gallifrey."

"Are you saying that the Doctor's been reduced to the state of a parasite?" Ace asked, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"If you asking whether he regenerated again, I wouldn't put it that way. When the Doctor was at the point of execution, he literally vanished into thin air before anything could be done to him. This somehow brought both him and the TARDIS to Earth, but once he was there, he became very weak, as if being sucked into air had made him incapable of existing in a physical state. The TARDIS wasn't any better off either, breaking down right here in this very alley, which is what brought me to him in the first place," Nina said.

"Well, it sounds like you've got quite a story in there," Ace said. "Why don't you tell me the rest once we've gotten inside?"

"Sounds like a good plan," Nina said with a smile. Then, pulling out a silver key from her bag, she placed it right into the door, opening it up immediately.

"You're already reminding me a lot of the Professor," Ace said with a grin as they stepped inside. She found it nice to see that little had changed about the TARDIS interior, with the same white walls and shape of a dome that had been in place during her own travels.

"Well, I never went to school, but I did learn an awful lot through my travels, including some stuff that I'm sure are left out of classrooms. Not to mention how I knew certain things that others never can…"

"What do you mean by knowing things that others don't?" Ace asked.

"It's a long story," Nina said, not wanting to go into detail on her ESP just yet. "Anyway, I could really use your help in doing certain things right now."

"If you're asking me whether I can get the TARDIS working, the Professor did show me a bit of the basics, but nothing beyond that," Ace said. "Shouldn't you have learned by now, seeing how long you've had it to yourself?"

Nina laughed. "I've tried to run it nearly every day, but without any luck."

"Well, perhaps it takes two people to be able to run that thing," Ace said, starting to scan all the buttons in the console.

"Watch out, though. I had a couple of near accidents after pressing some the wrong buttons," Nina warned.

"Do you really believe I don't know what I'm doing?" Ace asked with a scowl. "If something's important, I don't tend to forget it that easily, and the first steps in setting the TARDIS up to go is certainly not one of them."

"If you're sure, then go ahead," Nina said. "You seem like a sharp girl despite your quick temper, and I have no doubt of how useful you'll be in helping me out with this whole situation."

"I promise I won't disappoint you in that," Ace said, and then went back to work.

 ***French for silly or dumb**

 **** Bread and Milk**

 ***** Girl**


	37. Chapter 37

Victoria awoke early two days before Christmas Eve with her heart thudding and her body trembling. She knew she'd just woken up from a disturbing dream, but she couldn't remember much that occurred in it besides seeing a frightened face with eyes that remained wide open the whole time, without blinking for even a second, followed by a cloud of what looked like golden dust filling up her sight and then the sound of dozens of people screaming. For some reason, she recalled a feeling of relief at some point in the dream, as if someone was about to do some good deed to save lives, but then having this feeling replaced by horror upon hearing all that dreadful screaming. _Could it be that someone was trying to achieve justice by killing people?_ Victoria thought as she was getting dressed. _Does this mean that whatever must be done to save the Doctor could involve some sort of sacrifice?_

But almost as soon she thought this, she shook her head and turned her attention towards brushing her hair. She had to stop believing that all her dreams were a prophesy of disasters to come just because it occurred only one time. If she'd truly had anything even closely resembling Rose's gift, she would have seen dozens of invasions and other disasters occurring since she'd left the Doctor. When she was living with the Harris family, she would sometimes have frequent nightmares of being attacked by the dozens of adversaries she'd encountered when traveling, and yet the worst thing that would happen when she was awake would be some embarrassing moment in school or another misunderstanding amongst the Harrises.

However, if some powers truly remained dormant for a long time before an incident triggered them, could this mean that she…?

She was interrupted from her thinking from the sound of the phone ringing. Dropping her hairbrush and practically racing to pick the phone up, she said, "Hello. Who is this?"

"Hey, Victorian girl, how are you doing?" Laura's friendly voice came through the phone.

Victoria smiled, glad to know that it was a friend. "Hello, Laura. I'm okay, although I didn't sleep that well last night."

"Are you having one of those strange dreams again?" Laura asked, guessing exactly what was on her mind.

"Yes," Victoria admitted. She'd told Laura about how she'd unknowingly dreamed about the murder of Hannah Lewis, and she'd been interested in knowing about any similar incidents ever since. And so now she described what she remembered of her dream as best as she could.

"Oh man," Laura said after hearing it all. "Whatever is going on here, I can tell that it's all starting to bother you a little too much."

"Laura, you're not trying to suggest that I may be unfit to continue helping you out, are you?" Victoria asked in alarm.

"Of course not, Victoria," Laura said. "I can't tell you how many times I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep, especially with what's happening now. That's a given with the sort of work I do, and I can only imagine how many times it's been the case for you, what with losing your father and meeting some of the scariest aliens in the galaxy. So, don't worry too much about me not wanting to work because of it."

"That's good to know. You startled me for a second there," Victoria said. "Now, I'm afraid I've distracted you too much now. Can you tell me why you're calling?"

"Well, I don't know if this can be considered good or bad news, but somehow, Ace and Nina were able to get the TARDIS working for the first time in two years," Laura said.

"Why, that sounds wonderful," Victoria said. But upon thinking through, she then said, "Unless there's something you don't know, of course. Did they at least inform UNIT on where they are so far?"

"That's exactly the issue we're having," Laura said. "Ace likes keeping it all secret, and kept making silly threats when Uncle John demanded to know at least something about their whereabouts. And the best Nina could do was say that they were getting close to their destination, but they wanted to make a stop somewhere first. All we could figure through our devices was that they're still on Earth, so at least we don't have to worry about them being stuck on Venus or Skaro."

"Oh dear," Victoria said. "Looks like those two got a little too caught up in their…"

Just then, she heard a low wooshing sound, which she and many others had considered to be the best sound in the world. After believing to have heard it several times before, she'd long dismissed any hopes of it ever coming from the place she most wanted to be. Now, looking through the window of her first-floor flat, she smiled as she saw the old blue police box standing on the other side of the road.

"Victoria, what is it?" Laura asked, wondering why she wasn't speaking.

"Laura, the TARDIS is here!" Victoria exclaimed, laughing in astonishment. "Of all the places they could have gone, they're here at my place! Can you believe it?"

"Well, it looks like you got lucky!" Laura said. "Although whether they intentionally stopped by to visit you or if they got here by accident is something you'll have to find out."

And the two travelers were out of the TARDIS in seconds, appearing obviously surprised by where they landed. "Well, this doesn't look like sixteenth- century France at all, Nina," Ace complained, scanning the streets closely. "If anything, it looks an awful lot like modern-day London."

"Of course it's modern London, Ace," Nina said. 'Didn't you read the TARDIS time scan before stepping out?"

"Why would I want to bother with that when I'm too excited to stay in the TARDIS?" Ace scoffed. "After that quick stop in the middle of a medieval archery game where I was beating the pants out of King Arthur, coming back here seems so dull in comparison."

"With the endless messages we were getting from this UNIT group, how long did you expect us to stay there?" Nina said with a sigh. "You act so childish sometimes, Ace."

"Better to be childish than another stiff busybody," Ace said.

Victoria laughed. This didn't seem so different from the quarrels the Doctor and Jamie would have with each other, and she wondered how much those two were aware of this. However, she knew she had to get their attention somehow, and so she tried the trick she'd learned from her days looking after both children in rural Japan : she opened up the window, let out a high whistle (it took her years to get this right), and shouted out, "Hey girls! If you're looking for a place to stay after your adventures thorough time and space, my doors are always open to time travelers. It helps that I was one myself a long time ago."

And then, a grin flashed across Nina's face. "Why, you must be Victoria Waterfield, the nineteenth century orphan who the Doctor left in the twentieth century. I don't think we could have found a better person to welcome us here in London." She waved in Victoria's direction, and Victoria gave her a bright smile in return."

"I could think of at least five people who the Doctor described as more interesting than the lovely Victorian girl," Ace said in a mocking tone. "From what he said of her, she was always jumpy and scared, waiting for her knight- in- shining- armor Jamie McCrimmon to rescue her. Sounds worse than Mel to me."

Victoria then turned bright red, and Nina glared at Ace. "Now Ace, you can't go around insulting the one person who's willing to let us stay with her. Don't they teach you British girls manners anymore?"

"Hey, I was just joking," Ace said. "Victoria actually seems better than I thought she was back when the Doctor described her, although I can do without that jolly attitude of hers. Also, I think most British girls have always been brats, myself included. Didn't you notice how Lady Morgan kept glaring at you when she realized that you talked so differently from everyone else in Camelot? It's something that's been passed down to us for ages, if you ask me."

"Now, I don't want to get into another one of these talks, Ace. Let's just go in and see what Victoria Waterfield has in store for us. I've been curious to see what her life's been like on modern times ever since I heard the Doctor's stories about her," Nina said as they started walking up to the entrance of the flat.

Once they were inside Victoria's place, Nina shook hands with her, saying, "Bonjour, Mademoiselle Waterfield. My name is Nina. It's a pleasure to finally be meeting you, especially since the Doctor thought it would be impossible to do so when he told me about you."

"Why good day, Nina," Victoria responded. "It's a pleasure to be meeting you as well." Then, turning to Ace, she said, "And you must be Ace. It's nice to see you as well."

Ace did her best not to burst out laughing upon hearing Victoria's overly formal way of speaking as she shook her hand. "Nice seeing you too, Victoria. You didn't happen to hear what I was saying outside, did you? Because if you did, I am sorry about it. I was joking around."

"I did hear you over there, but don't worry about it," Victoria said laughing. "It was an accurate description of how I was in the old days, after all."

"I wasn't expecting you to look so young, though," Ace went on, examining her appearance closely. "Based on how old you were back then, I expected you to look as if you were in your forties or even older than that if possible. Did traveling through time slow down the aging process for you or something?"

"I don't know for sure. I think your suggestion is the closest I could come up with for an explanation though," Victoria said. "Anyway, the Victorian girl inside of me just loves looking as young as I did twenty years ago. I've even wondered if I might be immortal sometimes, but of course, I'm wise enough to never test out my living abilities, so I've never known for sure if that's the situation."

"Still sounds pretty cool though. Who knows if I might have that ability as well?" Ace said.

"You'll have to wait a couple more years to find that out, Ace," Victoria said.

"True enough," Ace said. Scanning the dining room table, which had the books Victoria was teaching alongside the cereal she was going to have for breakfast, she said, "So you're an English teacher, right?"

"That's correct," Victoria answered.

"Sounds lovely," said Nina, picking up the paperback copy of _The Catcher in the Rye_ and flipping through the pages.

Ace scoffed. "Sounds boring to me. I don't mind reading, but teachers always took the fun out of it when I was in school. And it doesn't look like you're doing a better a job at it. _Emma_ and _Catcher in the Rye_ are some of the worst books ever, and it doesn't help at all that the characters are as obnoxious as hell. One of them turns her nose against anyone who isn't as classy as she is, and the other thinks everyone's a phony and is such a downer all the time."

"I heard the Doctor once say that he met both Emma Woodhouse and Holden Caulfield in the Land of Fiction," Nina said. "They could be quite heroic when they put their minds to it, but he did admit that hearing them talk in person was quite torturous , especially Holden, who kept thinking the Doctor was a fake half of the time."

"I can only imagine how awful it was for the Professor," Ace said. "Probably worse than getting stuck in all those seventies movies with Romana because of the trickster."

"And they weren't the worst characters there. He also had to put up with Cathy Earnshaw, Rabbit Angstrom, and the Queen of Hearts, amongst several others. They all proved to be useful in the end, but they weren't the most pleasant of company," Nina said.

"Oh, dear," Victoria said with a chuckle. "But anyway, Ace, I am trying to include some books students were actually interested in reading for the next term. So far, I'm thinking of doing a science fiction unit, including books like _Ender's Game, A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,_ and _The Time Machine._ You just can't avoid those books after having lived through similar stories,no matter how inaccurate they are. Did the Doctor meet any of the characters from those stories, Nina?"

"No. As a matter of fact, there weren't as much science fiction characters as you might expect," Nina said.

"Could it be because the Doctor himself is one?" Ace asked jokingly.

"Who knows," Nina said with a smile.

"How about we get back to business now, girls?" Victoria said. "So, as I'm sure you're both aware, we've managed to get both UNIT and Susan Foreman involved in the situation with Rose. Susan insists that having the TARDIS at a close distance from the hotel will help free both him and the hotel's spirits because of the presence of the time vortex, which will help remove the spirits from the past, put them to rest, and help the Doctor return back to his physical form."

"And will that be enough to help the girl?" Nina asked.

"They don't know for sure," Victoria responded. "Once the spirits are gone, they won't bother Rose and her mother anymore, and so that's supposed to settle Rose's mind a little more, making it easier for the Doctor to get back to the way he was before."

"So, will it be necessary to get the TARDIS over to the hotel, or can we leave it here?" Ace asked.

"We'll have to ask UNIT about that," Victoria answered. "But because I only live about five miles away from Northern Horizons, I believe the vortex could still do its work within that sort of a distance."

"Good, because it proved a lot harder to get the TARDIS working than I'd originally thought," Ace said.

"And you're going to have to pitch in some way, Nina, considering how you were the one who brought the Doctor into Rose's mind." Victoria said.

Nina nodded, but she didn't say anything, appearing as if she was trying to listen to something which neither she nor Ace could hear.

"Nina? Is everything all right?" Victoria asked.

"This isn't the first time I've seen her like this," Ace said. "She also became like this minutes before a dragon attempted to attack King Arthur in our visit to Camelot. Merlin and I managed to kill it with my Nitro 9, of course, but if she hadn't warned us once she snapped out of it, I don't know if we would have been that lucky."

"Should I just leave her be?"

"Probably your best option," Ace agreed.

But shortly after, Victoria started hearing the screams from her dream again, much louder and eerie than she'd remembered them to be. And as she looked at Nina, with her eyes now closed as if she'd just dosed off, she saw the face of a wolf flashing through, its sharp teeth sticking and its dark eyes staring straight in Victoria's direction. It then jumped up and howled, looking as if it was trying to attack her.

Victoria had to clench her teeth to avoid screaming and possibly scaring Ace.

But apparently, that wasn't necessary, since the next thing she knew, Ace was shaking her shoulder anxiously and saying, "Victoria, what's wrong? You've gotten just like Nina now!"

It was now that Victoria let out a startled gasp. "Oh, Ace, I'm so sorry for scaring you! It felt as if I was having a vision just now, if not a waking nightmare."

"What did you see?" Ace asked.

Victoria then described the awful screams, and seeing the face of the wolf who then jumped as if to attack someone.

"Didn't UNIT say that the message they found on the hotel walls was "Bad wolf" spelled backwards?" Ace said.

"Yes. So you believe that's why I had that vision?" Victoria asked.

"From what I know, that's the only explanation we could..." Ace began.

Suddenly, they was a loud knocking on the door, enough to rouse Nina and get Ace and Victoria to immediately walk up to answer it.

And standing there was Rose Tyler along with a dark-haired woman and another girl who appeared to be her daughter.

"Rose? What are you doing here, and who are these people?" Victoria asked.

"It's my mummy, Victoria. She's in big trouble now," Rose answered in a quivering voice.

"I'm Eleanor Oswald, and this is my daughter Clara," the woman answered. "Clara was somehow able to warn me that there was some sort of trouble at a hotel she'd been staying in a month ago, and there we found the caretaker in a terrible state with her daughter looking terrified."

"What was your mother doing, Rose?" Victoria demanded.

"She..." Looking anxiously at Eleanor, Clara, and Ace, whom she probably assumed would believe she was speaking nonsense, Rose was clearly considering whether to tell the truth to Victoria. But despite her insecurities, she must have decided to go forward with the truth, since she said, "She saw the hotel's ghosts, including the dad that killed his girls. I also found her drinking again when I found her, and she was acting as if she'd gone crazy. And if Eleanor and Clara hadn't found me, I think she could have done something bad to me!"

"It's the rising of this wolf," Nina said as Victoria put her arms around Rose. "Whatever it is..."

"It's me!" Rose cried out. "I'm supposed to be the one that saves everyone, but I don't know how I can! It all seems too scary to me."

"A wolf?" Eleanor asked. "Clara, do you understand what she means?"

"I think so, Mummy. I might have dreamed about it once," Clara said.

"So Rose is supposed to be this bad wolf?" Victoria asked.

"From what I could sense, yes, it's clearly her," Nina said.

"And even if she's supposed to save these ghosts, is this power really a good thing for her?" Ace asked.

"I don't know, Ace," Nina admitted.


	38. Chapter 38

Westmont, Florida

Sarah Jane could never recall feeling as overwhelmed as she'd been recently in years. Even her most dangerous adventures with the Doctor seemed a piece of cake in comparison to her current situation.

Upon making it to Florida, there was a dangerous, unexpected thunderstorm, forcing the plane to come down near Westmont, Florida. Due to this cycle of bad weather across the southern states, all flights to Washington DC were delayed for six hours. Sarah Jane remained in the airport throughout the whole time, but fell asleep as the time was approaching, resulting in her missing the flight and having to buy a ticket for a flight which would be three days later.

Because of this, Sarah Jane was stuck in a state she'd never visited before, with a limited amount of money because of how few individuals here were willing to trade in foreign money of any kind, much less that belonging to those "old brits", as some of the shop owners and bankers rudely commented the moment they caught her accent. She also had limited contact with other people unless she made long- distance calls, for which she was willing to spend half of the money she had if just for the comfort of talking to someone she knew.

The first person she talked to was her sister Rebecca, who was obviously disappointed that Sarah Jane would have to come in later than expected. "It's such bad luck that this has to happen to you, Sarah Jane. But then again, trouble always seems to be around the corner for you. If it's not missing a flight, then it's being gone for nearly two years with only a few visits here and there. And if not's any of that, then it's attempts at being brought down by your crazy, psychic journalism professor."

Sarah Jane giggled. "You could say that again, Rebecca. The fact that I'm a magnet for trouble has always been obvious to me."

"At least tell me that you have a decent place to stay in for the next two days," Rebecca said.

"If you call a motel with cracked old furniture and a tendency to attract bugs if you leave any crumbs on the floor decent, then yes, it is a pretty comfortable place once you get used to it," Sarah Jane answered.

"Oh, Sarah Jane, if only there was some way I could get there myself. But as you already know, the weather up here in DC is as terrible as it in Florida. So, all I can do is wish you good luck and hope that you can make it up here without any further issues."

Rebecca could not even guess how many other issues her sister was facing. When Sarah Jane went over to buy takeout at a fast food joint on her first day, she could hear the thoughts of everyone around her, including one woman could kept having nasty thoughts about a coworker, a man using racial slurs to describe a black family seated right next to him, and a waitress who seemed suspicious of how Sarah couldn't stop staring at everyone.

But these awful feelings didn't end once she got out of there. Upon making it back to the motel, she started having visions of Rose at Northern Horizons, looking scared and confused as she saw her mother typing away through the night, staring straight at the paper the whole time and never once acknowledging Rose's presence. Her eyes were covered in dark, heavy bags, her face ghostly pale and dry, and her hair sloppy and disheveled, looking more grey than blonde. Seeing her mother in this state clearly scared Rose, who kept calling out, "Mummy, please talk to me! You're acting really scary right now!" But Jackie Tyler didn't do much as give off a small frown whenever her daughter said this; whatever she was writing was clearly the top priority at the moment.

Sarah Jane tried to send telepathic messages to Rose, warning her not to disrupt her mother, as that could be twice more dangerous than just letting her be. Rose would sometimes nod in response, but other than that, she was almost as unresponsive as her mother. Expect for one occasion in which she was playing with a toy train, she'd always be sitting there watching her mother, waiting for something to happen and then starting to cry once everything remained the same.

These visions were almost as haunting as seeing Rose getting attacked by aliens would have been, and Sarah Jane would gain consciousness trembling and feeling dizzy. She'd try to ease her stress by watching sitcoms on TV, usually the final season of _Cheers_ or _Seinfeld_ , or by reading one of her old science fiction paperbacks (She was currently rereading _The Left Hand of Darkness,_ an old favorite from her university years), but they only proved to be a momentary distraction.

So, the next morning, after having these visions three times during the night, she called the Marshes. To her relief, it was Tom who answered, since he would most likely take things more calmly than Violet would, as she would probably go on nonstop over how she'd told Sarah Jane that she'd be having trouble and demand that she get some sort of pay back from those thoughtless bastards at the airport.

And of course, Tom listened quietly as Sarah Jane told her story, only interrupting a couple of times for questions on where she was staying and whether she'd managed to obtain American currency. By the time she started telling him about the visions, however, he got very worried, asking, "Please tell me you've at least got the ESR with you, Sarah. You know how bad things can get for you if you're having these episodes and you're all alone without medication of some kind."

"I've got it with me, Tom. I already took it once tonight, but it hasn't helped me at all," Sarah Jane said.

"That doesn't sound good," Tom said. "So, all you see in these visions is Rose staring at her mother as she types without interruption?"

"For the most part," Sarah Jane replied. "The only thing that went differently in these visions was that at one point, Rose was playing with her toys. But other than that, nothing changes."

Tom was silent for a while, Then, he said, "I'll tell you one thing we could do, Sarah. Right now, Violet and I will drive up to Northern Horizons and see what's up with Jackie and Rose. If something bad is going on, we'll call you back as soon as possible."

"Sounds like a good plan," Sarah Jane said.

"And one more thing."

"What's that?"

"If you keep having these visions so often, take the first flight available to London. From everything you've been telling me, Sarah, this sounds like one of the more dangerous psychic episodes you used to have. You made it through because you'd have your family or me and Violet by your side, but whenever you've been far from home, it would always be more difficult for you, even if one of us was there. You might have to hold off this visit to DC for now for your own good," Tom insisted.

"If that's the case, Tom, then I promise I'll come back as soon as possible," Sarah Jane responded. And if Rose happened to be in danger, then she would also return, but she wouldn't admit this to Tom.

"Well, good luck dealing with this mess," Tom said. "I already know Violet will be outraged, and we can only hope that she doesn't get mad enough to murder the owner of Heathrow Airport."

Sarah Jane laughed. "If she nearly did it to a ghost once, them who knows if she'd do the same to a human if she's provoked?"

Once the call was done, Sarah Jane had to leave the motel to get breakfast somewhere, because despite how scared she was of having that overflow of thoughts again, having to remain alone with endless visions while hungry seemed much worse. Besides the fast food joint, which was now off limits after yesterday's incident, she decided to go to the McDonald's next to the Westmont Mall. Although she wasn't a big fan of the restaurant, it was still the best place to go if you were abroad, starving, and with a limited budget.

But much to her luck, as this was a Saturday (and breakfast no longer being served), the restaurant was packed, with a line which took up about half the building going through as she entered. You could find everyone from workers to busy families to bored teenagers in here, with the people next to Sarah being a Little League baseball team which was headed by one of the boys' fathers, who kept barking orders at them.

In a normal situation, Sarah Jane would have inspected these people in curiosity, being especially interested in seeing whether they exhibited that much talked about southern hospitality. But under the condition she was in, this overwhelmingly large group seemed nothing but a nuisance, and all she could notice was how often mothers scolded their children, how some teenagers openly complained about their annoying classmates or coworkers, and how crabby customers would scream at the cashiers due to wrong orders.

And before long, she was hearing it all again:

 _We were one shot away from losing. One damn shot, and if it hadn't been for good old Sammy here, the Westmont Grizzlies would have been screwed once again…_

 _Karen's nothing but a frigging boyfriend stealer. All they see in her is her cute blonde head and gleaming eyes, but if they could see past all that crap, they'd find nothing but…_

 _Why do they hire a bunch of losers who can't hear orders well enough? I'd fire these idiots under one strike if I were the manager of this damn old place…_

"Excuse me, miss? Are you okay?" a little girl who was to the back of Sarah Jane asked.

It wasn't until now that Sarah Jane noticed how pale and sweaty she was, with a hand clutched around her stomach.

"I'm sorry, dear. Do I really look that ill?" Sarah Jane asked, hoping she wasn't frightening the child.

She must have noticed her accent immediately, because as soon as Sarah Jane started talking, the little girl smiled and said, "Harry's going to like seeing another British person in here of all places. He's my tutor, and he was offering to order for you when he noticed how uneasy you looked."

"Oh, dear. Something must be going on with me if he noticed so quickly," Sarah Jane said. But something else the girl had said had stuck out to her. _Harry? Another British person? Is that just a coincidence, or could it be who I think it is? And this girl? Where have I...?_

Sarah Jane got the answer to her question when a middle-aged man with curly brown hair stepped up next to the girl and said with a British accent," So, Christine, how's our friend over here doing?" Looking up at Sarah Jane, who was once again startled upon hearing the girl's name, he said, "Hello there. We noticed you were having some trouble over here, and I wanted to know if…" Then, as if as struck as Sarah Jane was at the possibility of having run into an old friend, he said, "This is strange. You look oddly familiar to me."

"I was thinking the same thing, sir," Sarah Jane said. "It may just be that we're the only two British people in McDonald's, but I get the feeling that we may have…"

To Sarah Jane's astonishment, she was interrupted by the little girl, who said, "You two do know each other! Harry, that's Sarah Jane Smith. And Sarah Jane, this is your old friend Harry Sullivan."

The two of them stood speechless for a moment, with a couple people close to them taking notice and staring at them. Then Harry, who was now blushing, said, "Sarah? Is that you? Oh, God, of all the places I could have expected to find you, I never dreamed that it would be here, at this particular time." He then started laughing awkwardly, seeming to be both delighted and embarrassed in a way that only someone like Harry could ever be.

Sarah Jane laughed too. "You got that right, Harry. It's me, Sarah Jane Smith! Twelve years later, if not seventeen on those strange days I sometimes have, but here we are, the two of us together once again."

Then, momentarily becoming oblivious to the line around them, Harry took Sarah Jane into his arms, and the two of them hugged each other. Christine looked on at them with a smile, glad to have contributed to this unexpected reunion, and the responses of those around ranged from similar feelings of joy, especially from the teenaged girls, to annoyance, as expressed by a man in a cowboy hat close to Harry who looked as if he was prepared to beat him up if he didn't move soon.

"Harry, you do know we're still in line, right?" Sarah Jane said after a while.

"Oh, of course! What an idiot I am, completely forgetting what I was intending to do," Harry said. Turning to Christine, he said, "Christine, would you mind staying here for a while as I get Sarah seated?"

"Are you going to want me to order everything as well, Doc?" Christine asked.

"Don't worry about that. I'll try to keep an eye on the line and then take care of all orders when the time comes."

"All right, Doc. I'll do it," Christine said.

"Notice how he said he'll _try_ to watch over the line. He could just as easily forget to do so in all his happiness," Sarah Jane joked. "But I'll be sure to remind him of his responsibilities, Christine, so don't fret too much over it."

Then, the two of them went over to the nearest table, and everyone, even those who'd liked seeing the unexpected reunion, sighed in relief as the line started to move once again.

And Sarah Jane let out a heavy sigh as well, because she'd momentarily forgotten how tense she'd been feeling when standing in line, and as happy as she was about seeing Harry once again, she could feel how hot she was now that she was seated, although not so much as when she'd been standing.

Harry seemed to notice as well, since he asked, "How are you feeling, Sarah? A moment ago, you looked exactly as you used to do back when you would have those strange psychic episodes."

"Well, I feel a little better now that I'm seated, but I'm still a little queasy," Sarah Jane admitted.

"Have you eaten anything?"

"No, I haven't even had breakfast. Do you think that's the problem?"

"At least part of it," Harry said, giving her a piece of chocolate, which Sarah Jane immediately popped into her mouth. "If you're going around hearing every person's thoughts while on an empty stomach, you're not going to be feeling well. I've got enough experience seeing that with Christine, since she's psychic as well and can't stand to go longer than two hours without anything to eat."

"I actually met Christine before when you two were in England," Sarah Jane said. "So I understand how overwhelming her psychic experiences had been."

"I actually guessed that it was probably you she met up with when she told me the story about the Doctor being stuck in her mind," Harry said smiling. "It's a shame I wasn't there when it happened, so I could have helped you out with that whole mess."

"Yes, you always were strangely calm and helpful during times of danger, maybe even more so than during our normal traveling days," Sarah Jane remarked.

"Normal traveling days. Are you sure we ever had any of those, Sarah?" Harry asked.

"Am I the only one that remembers how we visited my dad and older sister after our business with the Cybermen?"

"Right," Harry said. "For some reason, I sometimes forget we ever had that little adventure."

"Well, I have a nice little picture of the two of us from that day, so it's impossible for me to forget," Sarah Jane said smiling. "But I sometimes get dates mixed up. There are times when it seems like we traveled five years earlier than we actually did, in 1975 instead of 1980. Have you ever experienced that?"

"I have, strangely enough," Harry said. Then, noticing Christine waving at him, he said, "Looks like I have to get back and make all those orders. We can talk about our weird time perceptions later. So, is the usual burger and chips okay with you?"

"It's fries over here, Harry, but yes, I'll have all that. Just make sure the order of fries is large, seeing as how hungry I am, and that the burger comes without onions or pickles."

"Got that, old girl," Harry said, patting her in the shoulder, then walking back out into the line of inpatient customers.

Sarah Jane laughed upon hearing his old pet name for her. It was good to know that some things just never changed about people.


	39. Chapter 39

By the time Harry and Christine got back to the table with all the food, Sarah Jane Smith was almost convinced that her weary condition would soon fade away, with a good meal and close companions being enough to make her feel better. And so for a while she relaxed, focusing only on devouring as much of her food as possible.

Harry laughed as she did so. "Slow down, Sarah," he warned her cheerfully. "If you keep eating that fast, you'll possibly get indigestion."

"Do you think I care right now, Harry?" Sarah said just before she put another handful of fries into her mouth.

"Well, suit yourself, but don't go around complaining about the worse stomach ache you've ever had once you're done," Harry said. "I've had enough of this with Christine already."

"Hey, doc! That's only happened two times," Christine complained.

"That may be so, but it's what happens when you refuse to listen to me," Harry said.

Sarah chuckled, but still made sure to eat more slowly than before after that precaution.

"See? I knew you'd eventually listen," Harry said with a smile.

"I may do so now, but don't expect me to be following all your orders from now on," Sarah said.

"I never asked you to, just when it comes to matters concerning your health, which is part of my job," Harry insisted.

"Just as it's my job to ask all the questions, isn't it?" Sarah demanded.

"Now that's a good journalist," Harry said laughing.

Christine chuckled as she heard this exchanged. "Has anyone ever told you two how funny you sound when talking to each other?" she asked.

"I believe the Doctor told us so a number of times, right Harry?" Sarah asked.

"So many times that I lost count, Sarah," Harry answered.

"Yeah. I can totally see how even the Doctor noticed that," Christine said, then grabbed two of Sarah Jane's French fries.

"Hey! Hasn't Harry taught you anything about not stealing other people's food?" Sarah Jane protested even as she tried to hide a smile.

"It's not stealing if it comes from someone you're sure would let you take something, isn't that right, Doc?" Christine said.

"Now I never recall teaching you that, Christine. It must have been something your mother told you, considering how often she takes everything from my spare snacks to old tools without considering asking me first," Harry said.

"And did you ever need any of that?" Christine asked.

"No, but…"

"But then what's the point of complaining, Doc? My mom wanted them, and you usually never notice when something that isn't important to you goes missing until I tell you about it, so at least you weren't left with those messes you hate so much."

"She has a point, Harry. Never overlook the words of a clever girl, even if she's just eight," Sarah Jane said.

"Especially if she's eight," Christine said, and the three of them laughed.

Once they'd all finished eating, Harry turned to Sarah Jane again and said, "Hard to believe that just a while ago, you looked as if you were going to collapse from exhaustion."

"And the feeling hasn't completely passed, Harry," Sarah Jane admitted with a whisper. "Every few seconds, I feel as if this weight in my body keeps pulling me down, and I start hearing other people's voices again."

"Oh, no," Harry said. "Would you like me to take you back to wherever it is you're staying right now? If you want, Christine and me could stay with you to make sure you're okay. I have little work to do these days besides teaching and looking after Christine, so I have all the time in the world."

Sarah Jane smiled upon hearing him saying "all the time in the world". "It really does feel that way sometimes, doesn't it? I'm often convinced that I can put off all my responsibilities for weeks and come back to it with little consequences. But then I have to remind myself that I'm not in the TARDIS anymore and still have a report due tomorrow, so I have no excuse for putting things off."

"I understand what you mean, Sarah, but I actually do have a lot of time in my hands thanks to what I now do. Most of my work consists of writing reports on how Christine's powers are going and how she's adjusting to everything because of them, and then going over to the University of Florida to speak with one of the head researchers in the medical or psychology departments about the information I gathered, for which I get paid a large sum of cash. Seeing different patients every day is just part of the past for me now," Harry clarified.

"That's good to know, Harry. I think I even read that book you wrote on ESP research as well, even though I had no idea it was you that wrote until Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart of all people told me about it a year ago. I was quite surprised about it, to tell the truth," Sarah Jane said.

"And why is that? Do you see me as just as foolish as the Doctor did?" Harry asked.

"No, it's just I didn't think you were capable of writing something so formal and academic, at least not from any of the normal conversations we'd have together," Sarah Jane responded.

"You can say that again," Christine said.

"But didn't you write something as well? An old friend of yours once told me that you'd written some science fiction novels under a pseudonym about five years ago," Harry asked.

"Oh, yes. They were called _At the Speed of Stars_ and _The Unknown Species,_ if I remember correctly. However, there are days in which I have no memory of writing those books, and it's only when my friends Tom and Violet remind me that I once asked them nonstop questions about all the Ray Bradbury books we'd read together back in university that I can recall writing them at all. In fact, it's usually when I believe we've traveled in 1975 that I remember those books," Sarah Jane said.

"That's certainly strange," Harry said. "Do you have any idea what may have caused us to have such distorted memories?"

"Rose told me that one of the Doctor's adventures involved a search for a key of time, and that because he and his assistant came across a creature called the Black Guardian, it resulted in a distortion of several timelines, something which the Doctor became aware of after he met a companion who fell under the influence of the Black Guardian in 1983, in a reality where the Brigadier was working as a school teacher and had retired in 1976 instead of 1981, as happened in our timeline," Sarah Jane explained.

"I see. Christine, did you learn about any of this when the Doctor got stuck in your mind?" Harry asked.

"Nope. And for the record, I don't get anything you guys are talking about right now. Isn't there only one way in which all events of time have occurred?" Christine responded.

"I think it will take up to a hundred lessons for you to understand, Chris. I barely get it myself," Harry told her.

Suddenly, Sarah Jane felt her heart starting to race, and the voices in her head began again:

 _Eight dollars, nine dollars, ten dollars. Yes, that should be enough to…_

 _How long will it take these little rascals to finish up all that food? Fitness freaks keep giving me all this crap about athletes not needing to eat fast food, and sometimes I wonder if…_

 _This is the last time I'm waiting here all morning for that idiot to show up. If he tries to pull this off one more time, then I will dump him in front of…_

"Sarah, what's going? Are you feeling sick again?" Harry asked, placing a hand around her a shoulder.

"Are you okay, Sarah Jane?" Christine asked, sounding just as worried as Harry.

"I feel…" Sarah Jane began, but before she could continue, her vision started getting increasingly cloudy, and she heard a horrible buzzing coming from her ears. And after a while, she found herself incapable of seeing or hearing anything except a dim voice calling out her name desperately.

Then, she felt the sensation of falling from her seat, followed by…

…

When Sarah Jane gained consciousness again, she was no longer in the McDonald's in Florida, but in the large, luxuriously styled bedroom of Jackie and Rose Tyler's at the Northern Horizons Hotel. She could once again see Jackie Tyler sitting and typing away, but she could now feel something going on inside of her as she did so, to the point where all she was aware of for the remaining of her vision was of what Jackie was doing.

Jackie had a deep longing to drink. For over twenty- four hours, she had a strong craving for a stimulant of some sort to keep her strong urges at bay, and she could think of nothing she wanted more than a strong glass of wine or a can of beer, as had once been her method of drowning out all her pain.

But given the fact that she was trying to abstain from alcohol, the closest she could get to a stimulant was writing. It didn't matter if she wrote a whole paragraph of a young woman hitchhiking across Europe or just the same sentence about good work a hundred times, putting her thoughts into words was the only way she could free herself from this prison she was keeping herself trapped in.

However, she soon found herself getting tired just putting down words on a keyboard. She needed to look more through the outside world if she wanted to make improvement. Talking to another human being about your problems was always the best medicine, and given how Rose seemed increasingly confused about what was bothering her so much, she figured there must be someone in the hotel who'd understand her feelings. At the moment, it didn't matter to her if she just had a brief word with Elaine and Sandy, as shallow as those two girls were, or if she let Alison delve into the haunting history of Northern Horizons once again. Just hearing the words of one other person capable of something besides begging her to stop would be enough for her.

And so, she walked out of the bedroom as quietly as possible, so as not to awaken Rose, who was now sound asleep. Looking around, it suddenly hit her that it was past ten and most of the hotel workers had gone home for the night. As a result, she found herself heading towards the ballroom, the place where Rose had her latest psychic episode and where she'd nearly gone mad. But instead of this giving her fear, it provoked a sense of calmness in Jackie. What would it take for her to let go of her stress and fear like that once again? Would she ever be capable of just yelling and going after those who gave her nothing but hell at any other point in her life? If it had worked at making Truman a better man, then who knew who else she could force to change with that feisty temper of hers?

And to her surprise, she soon discovered that the place wasn't anywhere near as deserted as the last time she set foot in it. Instead, the moment she set foot in there, she heard the lively rhythm of a jazz number she remembered her great aunt once playing on repeat. She was also greeted by a woman in a dark green dress with short hair, who said, "Oh, my, are we getting an awful lot of guests to our party! Welcome in, miss, but would you mind explaining the clothes you're in? We've had other women coming in here dressed very similarly as you, but they can never offer a clear explanation."

Jackie looked around. All the women in sight were wearing party dresses, most of them in that vintage style she usually saw in history books describing the lives of women in the earlier part of the century. And of course, Jackie, in her oversized t-shirt and dark trousers, was the odd one out in such a formal occasion.

"Hello there, and sorry about my state of dress. I was just…taking part in an athletic event and didn't have time to change," Jackie responded. And if they considered how quickly she'd been typing that scene where the woman kept running from some mysterious figure, she supposed that could be considered some form of exercise if you extended the word's definition.

"So you're just another flapper," the woman said with a chuckle. "Probably out skiing based on the weather we're having. Well, a couple of the girls here take pride in their tennis abilities, although athletics was never something I was good at. I still shudder when remember our supposed "swimming" lessons back in my school days, where they'd make us hang through ropes or bars while in a swimmer's pose, although they would never let us near an actual body of water. Oh, the horrors!"

 _A flapper? Swimming lessons through ropes and bars? Is this woman bonkers? She talks as if she's from the twenties!_ Jackie thought. Or perhaps that was the point of this party: a 1920s theme. Yes, she certainly liked that, and was impressed to see that they were also using twenties slang and references to the turn of the century.

"Thank you for understanding," she told the woman. "Now, may I sit anywhere I please, or are certain seats on reserve?"

"Why, there's no reserved seating at this party! It's New Year's Eve after all, so you never know how much people will show up," the woman responded, escorting Jackie through the room.

"New Year's Eve? But that's supposed to be…" Jackie started saying.

"Oh, Peggy, this must be the best New Year's Eve party I've ever been to!" a woman close to them interrupted.

"The party's sure swell, Caroline, but it's not the party I love so much as being able to have a good glass of liquor for once," another woman answered in a drunken American accent.

It took all the strength within Jackie not to walk up to their table and take the first glass of wine she could reach. In fact, if this woman hadn't been gripping her hand so tightly, she would have probably run over and snatched the wine from the drunk woman.

But the biggest surprise of all was when she heard a familiar voice calling out, "Jackie, you're here! One month apart from you has had me feeling quite lonely, despite how friendly everyone here is."

It was Hannah Lewis, sitting in a bar stall and looking as happy as she'd been back in September, in addition to being one of the only people in sight wearing modern clothing.

Jackie felt her face going pale. "Hannah, I…I don't understand. I thought… We all thought…"

Hannah laughed. "That I was dead? Well, let me tell you that you weren't deluding yourself then and you're certainly not doing so right now."

"But you were murdered, Hannah!" Jackie yelled, not caring if others could hear her. "You're acting as if you just went on vacation this whole time, but this was bloody serious for me and Rose! Now if you don't mind explaining to me what's going on, then I'd really appreciate it."

"Hey, what's going on here, ladies?" a man in a pink suit straight out of _The Great Gatsby_ asked them.

"Oh, just ignore her, William. She's a little disoriented because of how freezing it is outside. In fact, it looks like she could use a drink," Hannah responded.

"Why would you offer me a drink so easily? This isn't like you at all!" Jackie protested, but with the increasing dryness she was feeling on her lips, she couldn't deny the desire that had been absorbing her any longer, and found herself seated beside Hannah, who was sipping on a tequila as if she'd never had any objections to drinking in her life. "Purdue, give me another shot of tequila, and make it quick! My friend Jackie here is very thirsty," she called out to the bartender.

The bartender immediately walked over and gave Jackie a quick scan, then smiled darkly at her. "Why, it's a pleasure to be meeting you at last, Mrs. Tyler. Hannah and the girls talk about you all the time," he said in what Jackie recognized as a French- Canadian accent.

"The girls? Do you mean your daughters?" Jackie asked.

"Of course. Their names are Therese and Louise, and they're some of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet. Incredibly patient too, which is a good virtue to have a place like this."

"A place like what?" Jackie demanded.

"What? Don't me you haven't already noticed, Jackie! You always struck as a clever woman, after all," Hannah said.

"But I'm not a genius either, Hannah! Now please start explaining!" Jackie yelled.

"For starters, do you see how not only am I dead, but almost everyone except for us is wearing clothing from the 1920s?" Hannah asked.

"So, am I in a very strange version of limbo or purgatory?" Jackie asked, not liking where this was going.

"You're somewhat correct, Mrs. Tyler. In this ballroom, it's been New Year's Eve of 1924 for the past sixty-eight years. Every single person you're seeing here died at different points in time, but they were all either at the party which occurred on that day or died in an incident relating to the spirit that's haunting this hotel one way or another," Purdue explained.

Jackie felt her heartrate accelerating and her body starting to fill with sweat. "But then what's happened to me? Am I dead as well, or am I just trapped here for the moment?"

"Purdue, give her the tequila now," Hannah demanded with a scowl.

The next thing she knew, a cup was pushed over in her direction. Letting out a heavy sigh, she picked up the glass, shut her eyes, and placed the glass through her lips. Then, for the first time in months, she found herself heavily gulping through the sweet alcohol, drinking as if her life depended on it.

And all around her, everyone was smiling.


	40. Chapter 40

Not long after Jackie had questioned her surroundings and the intentions of her dead friend, she found herself slowly accepting her situation with each glass of alcohol she drank. It seemed that the more she let herself relish the sweetness of the tequila and the heaviness of the wine, the less fearful she was of this company. Soon, she was laughing at Hannah's sly jokes, responded to the questions posed by Mr. Purdue, and taking delight in the eager party which kept awaiting 1925 every night.

"Don't you think that's got to be the best experience in the world, reliving one of the most exciting times in your life without a break? I can't tell you how much I wished time would just briefly freeze when I went on my honeymoon with Pete. We just stayed at a simple hotel and went out to clubs for three nights in a row, but it was his company that it made it all so wonderful," Jackie recalled.

Hannah smiled wickedly. "Jackie, you haven't even seen every detail of what goes on yet. Purdue and I have, and trust me when I tell you that it's no picnic for everyone involved."

"Can't you just let me live in the moment a few seconds longer, Hannah? Even now that you're dead and loosening up a little, you still love ruining all the fun for me," Jackie complained.

"Well, someone has to make sure you know what's going on here. You kept asking about it a while ago, and now you don't seem interested in it for whatever reason," Hannah insisted.

"She's adjusting to her surroundings, Hannah, which was actually our original intention in case you'd forgotten. Best if we save her from knowing certain things until the time is right," Mr. Purdue said.

It was at then that Hannah started showing genuine concern. "But Purdue, we must make sure Jackie's as safe as possible," she whispered to him.

"Jackie's completely safe in this reality for now. The worst case would be if the force were to make its way into the ballroom as midnight approaches with her still here. But if she's not here beyond eleven o'clock, she should be all right," Purdue told her.

"Would you two mind letting me know what secrets you're exchanging?" Jackie asked, still sounding heavily drunk.

"Nothing that concerns you, Mrs. Tyler," Purdue answered. Then, in an attempt to change the subject, he asked, "So, Hannah tells me that your deceased husband was an inventor. It would probably please you to know that I was one myself, with my most productive periods being during my final years of life. Unfortunately, very few individuals saw the high merit of my work. Did your husband have any success?"

"No, sadly enough," Jackie answered. "We once got a visitor from a graduate student at Cambridge who wanted to see this machine Pete was working on. It was supposed be a dishwasher which worked the same as a washing machine, with everything from plastic plates to glass cups fitting in without any risk of breakability. It actually worked very well on the one occasion in which he demonstrated it to me, but nothing came out of the meeting with that professor, even though Pete insisted that all had gone well, with the professor being deeply impressed that he had the knowledge to create a machine like that."

"Do you believe you could guess the reason why he may never have gotten in contact with Pete again?" Purdue asked.

"Perhaps it had something to do with his lack of formal education. Pete never had any official school records, despite knowing things that made my sixth form teachers seem ignorant in comparison. He had very few items pertaining to his past at all, as a matter a fact, apart from two old pictures of him at the age of thirteen and a book of the greatest inventions of the world, which he told me he'd had since he was eight," Jackie said.

"That's a very good reason why that may have occurred," Purdue said. "I know that was at least part of the reason why many refused to take my work seriously. I left high school before I could start my senior year to work, but I always made sure to stay on top of the latest technological and scientific achievements. And when my daughters were born, I did my best to make sure they could learn as much about all subjects as possible. However, I always came about as another bumbling French idiot whenever I tried speaking about my work, even within Quebec.

"I had to deal with crap like that with my writing. One of the magazines that rejected my work sent in snarky personal comments about how if I'd been a graduate of one of those bloody posh universities, then maybe they'd see me capable of producing such original work, but that given my education, I may have just scrawled it off some crumbled notes at a cafe that had been written by a real intellectual," Jackie complained.

"That's the way things are, unfortunately," Purdue said with a sigh, pouring Jackie yet another glass of wine.

Jackie took two quick sips, and with a glassy look in her eyes, she went on. "But the good news is that I went on with my writing and actually managed to get some of it published. Just last week, a got an acceptance letter for a short story I wrote for _The London Literary Voice._ It's about a woman who follows another woman who constantly finds herself in the middle of several life and death scenarios, and always walks out of it managing to save at least one person without getting so much as a scrape herself."

"Looks like you based it off some of your more recent experiences," Purdue remarked.

"She did indeed," Hannah said, giving Jackie a wink.

"But the best part about it all is the amount of money they're planning on paying me. Five hundred quid. Yes, five hundred bloody quid, which will serve as something extra once old Truman has paid me for my first weeks on the job. Seeing all the difficulties we got ourselves into, Truman wants to pay for these early weeks of what he originally intended to be training for my actual work, which would begin after New Year's. With that and what I'm getting for this story, I won't have to worry about money for quite a while," Jackie said.

"Well, at least your financial problems have been dealt with," Purdue said, sounding as if he was aware that Jackie had a lot more hanging over her shoulders.

But before Jackie could ask about this, the woman with the green dress was tagging her on the shoulder. "I've been looking all over for you!" she exclaimed. "Couldn't you have said something to me before you went off to get a drink?"

"I thought you noticed when I left," Jackie said.

"In a party this big, it's hard to notice when someone leaves your side," the woman said, as if this was a clear enough explanation.

"So, why were you looking for me? Probably to get me to come change my clothes, is that it?" Jackie asked.

"Why, of course not," the woman said, laughing a little too hard. "In fact, I was looking for you because there's a man over here who's interested in dancing with you."

"Are you serious? Someone want to dance with _me_?" Jackie asked, more in delight than surprise.

What did surprise her was Hannah's reaction to the conversation. She kept glaring towards the woman and shaking her head in disapproval. Then, she looked directly at Jackie, shook her finger in the woman's direction, and appeared be mouthing, "Don't go."

Jackie frowned back at Hannah. So, she decided to slip back into schoolteacher mode shortly after drinking a dozen glasses of alcohol and making her friend do the same? What a hypocrite. And besides, Purdue had clearly said that she had nothing to worry about in here. In that case, what was the point of trying to have control over everything she did?

And so Jackie found herself saying, "Just let me be, okay?"

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Jackie yelled. She then noticed Hannah glaring and waving her arm in a dismissive gesture, as if to show that she was though with Jackie. _Good,_ Jackie thought. _At least she gets that there's no point in telling me what to do now._

Before she knew it, she was twirling around the ballroom with the pink suit man, whose name was Charles Pond and who had hair the color of a fox, matching his feisty attitude towards some of the party guests. For instance, when one man started making rude comments about Jackie's clothes, Charles turned to him and said crossly, "Well, your suit doesn't look as if you got it at Woolworths either, mate! Why not just close that big mouth of yours and use it to compliment your lovely finance instead?"

Jackie felt as if she'd fallen head over heels for him just for that comment. There was nothing better than a tough guy who stood up for a woman, after all. Who cared if he was technically dead? Perhaps dead men were more loyal to you than living men ever could. With this in mind, she spent over an hour waltzing around with him, constantly tapping her feet to the rhythm of the jazz music and chuckling as Charles made them go faster the livelier the music got.

"I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself so much in my life!" she yelled at one point.

"Why, you never struck me as the type of lady with a dull life. Is your husband one of those mean old blokes who like keeping their ladies in those heavy gowns and making them follow their every word?" Charles asked.

"I'm a widowed mother, so I haven't had to deal with a man in years, although I sometimes wish I did have one in my life," Jackie admitted.

"Well, I've been single ever since I reached manhood, so I could use a good lass by my side. My father says that if I don't marry by the time I'm twenty-five, that I'll most likely be alone the rest of my life," Charles said.

"You better tell your father to get in with the times, because I don't think being single should be something shameful now that so much change has come to society," Jackie said.

"That may seem so, but many people still like staying to the more traditional ways. You see Caroline over there, for instance? Some people like calling her a flapper, but she's been married for two years now and even has a daughter. Peggy the reckless American, has a fiancé who's planning to marry her as soon as she returns to Chicago. Your escort, whose name is Melissa Hathaway, is an heiress who spends much of her time obsessing over suitors. Ironically enough, Wendy, who complains about flappers is one of the few ladies here who's ever actually worked, holding a nursing position in one of London's best hospitals. In that case, you should never judge people based on the times we're currently living in," Charles said.

"And what's your story?" Jackie asked.

"I'm just a young banker from Glasgow who was lucky enough to get invited here by a posh friend from university. I'd like to walk down the aisle with a fine lassie one of these days, but the truth is, I think it's best to wait before settling down with a woman. You look around and see all these couples who've been married since their late teens and some of them are more miserable than…"

"Mrs. Tyler. Mrs. Tyler, walk out of there right now," Jackie heard a small girlish voice saying. Upon turning around, she saw two girls wearing matching blue shirts and trousers, glancing anxiously towards her while standing behind several other dancing couples.

"Who the hell are you two?" Jackie demanded.

"Jackie, who are you speaking to?" Charles asked, obviously not noticing the girls.

The taller girl started dragging Jackie by the arm. "Mrs. Tyler, you will put yourself, Rose, and all your other friends in danger if you stay here any longer. Hannah tried to warn you about this, but you wouldn't listen to her," she said.

"Where are you going?" Charles asked.

"Cut it out, you bloody brat!" Jackie yelled. "If I must be stuck in this limbo, I'd rather be enjoying myself than just sitting down and drinking away all my troubles with my dead friend. I've been miserable long enough."

"But you will only bring yourself more misery if you keep acting so carelessly," the smaller girl said. "As a matter of fact, one of the reasons all these people are stuck in 1924 is because they're having too much fun in here. They could live this day a thousand times without feeling bored, but because of their happiness, they're stuck in a cycle which is difficult to end without somehow gaining awareness."

"And if you get too absorbed into the party scene, chances are you might not see Rose again," the tall girl said.

Everyone in the party from Charles Pond to Melissa Hathaway were now staring at her. Some noticed the girls and addressed them directly when noticing how they were dragging Jackie away, but others, including Charles and Fanny, only saw her alone and struggling against no one. However, everyone was now aware of Jackie's presence and knew that something wasn't right about her.

Once they got to the bar, the girls helped Jackie get seated again. "We did just as you said, Papa. We got her back before she got too absorbed into the scene," the tall girl said.

"Well done, girls. It's good to know that I can still relay on you two even after all that happened between us," Purdue said.

Hannah only frowned at her and pushed another tequila glass towards her. "Guess you better drink up again," she said.

"No, Hannah. I believe she's had enough for the night," Purdue said sharply.

"Then what do you expect me to do, just sit here and discuss why your two daughters, whom you murdered, are still doing favors for you?" Jackie demanded.

"That was not my fault!" Purdue yelled. "That damned spirit was determined to kill them from the start, and if I didn't have some consciousness still in place, it would have done so in a manner much more painful than just shooting them. I did my best to fight it off, but it still won at the end, just as it always has."

"But Rose has the power to change this. As the Bad Wolf, she might succeed at break this cycle that's been following the guests of Northern Horizons ever since this fateful day," the small girl said.

"Leave my daughter out of this! All the trouble we've been facing since that terrible car accident has been my fault, not hers!" Jackie exclaimed.

"It's been your fault indeed," Hannah said.

"No, it's not. Mrs. Tyler just got tangled into this by accident, just as all the others did," the tall girl said.

However, Purdue was going on as if he'd taken no notice of what anyone was saying. "I actually kept a journal of all the hauntings I experienced inside that hotel. I know the entity spoke directly to me five times, with the final one being the time when I killed the girls and myself. It was threatening to take someone's life from the start, and I kept begging it to leave me and the girls alone. The girls saw it only twice, mostly being aware of my fits of temper more than anything else. I originally planned on killing someone else myself to serve as a sacrifice, either Jameson or Allison, to be specific. If you want to understand my situation better, you could try looking for the journal yourself. I hid it in a cabinet in your room, where I reluctantly put it away after showing it to multiple people who all dismissed it as crazy ramblings…"

Jackie didn't think she could hear this man rambling on any further. And so, she reached for the tequila glass and placed it between her lips, waiting to see if someone would try stopping her. But no one did; not Hannah, who kept glaring at her with disapproval; not Purdue, who kept going on about the terror he experienced during his final days of life; not even the girls, who only looked sadly at her. Seeing as how they were letting her be, Jackie gulped down the tequila quickly, not hesitating for even a second…

But then, right before her eyes, was the woman who'd died in the car accident, wearing a bloody gown but otherwise looking not that different from an ordinary woman.

"Relax, Jackie. The terror's about to end soon, and you'll be by Rose's side once again," she said.

Jackie looked around her, and was surprised to see that the ballroom was now empty expect for her and the woman. However, she was somehow able to hear her daughter's urgent cries coming from the ceiling: "Mummy, please wake up! Mummy, you'll be in big trouble soon if you don't!"

"What are you doing to Rose, you bleeding woman?" Jackie demanded.

"Rose is back in her room, completely safe and with some friends helping her out. As I said before, the terror will soon come for an end not only for you, but also for myself and all the other souls trapped here," the woman said.

"Are you sure? Because if I find out that you're lying, I swear I'll drag you out of Northern Horizons myself! Despite what you went through, I won't have anyone…"

The woman then placed her battered hand next to Jackie's own, and within a few seconds, she was looking not into the woman's face, but Rose's, who started smiling despite all her tears and immediately reached out to embrace her mother.


	41. Chapter 41

It was after seeing Rose Tyler's face again that Sarah Jane found herself at the McDonald's in Florida once again, with her head resting on Harry's lap.

"Sarah?" She heard Harry asking gently. "Sarah, are you awake now?"

She moaned upon taking everything in again. "Yes," she mumbled. "How… how long have I been out of it?"

Harry checked his watch. "For only about seven minutes, believe or not. I remember how you told me that as much as a day could pass by in your visions. Was this one of those cases?"

"It felt like an hour, but luckily not a day," Sarah Jane answered, trying to lighten the mood a little despite how weary she was feeling.

Harry smiled. "Now that's a relief to hear. And how are you feeling?"

"I feel so…disoriented," she answered, "As if there's too much stuff happening at once."

"Do you want to leave yet, or would you rather stay here a while longer?" Harry asked.

Sarah Jane tried to sit up, but her head started spinning the moment she started lifting herself. "Let's stay here," she said in a low voice as she placed her head down in Harry's lap once again.

"I agree. You look as if you're in no shape to be moving around without getting sick," Harry said, placing his hand around Sarah Jane's forehead. "Oh gosh, you're so warm! I thought these fevers would go away once you started taking the ESR regularly," he said.

"The ESR only prevents you from getting seriously ill. You can still get mild fevers and pain after a psychic episode, but it usually goes away after some time has passed by," Sarah Jane explained.

"Okay," Harry said, but Sarah Jane could sense that his unease wouldn't go away. They may not have been in a planet thousands of light years away this time, but somehow, seeing her having these episodes in an everyday setting on Earth felt much worse for him than it had been when they'd been traveling with the Doctor. Over there, it felt like yet another obstacle in the adventure which could be overcome if you remained calm about the situation and did what had to be done. But today, when everything had been going quite normally until he'd run into her, it felt like a true emergency in which he had no idea whether she'd turn out well or not. In some ways, as a matter of fact, life on Earth was way more unpredictable than it was on other planets.

"So, helping me out back then felt like another part of the adventure for you?" Sarah Jane asked, managing a mischievous smile.

"You probably remember my old desire to be like James Bond, don't you?" Harry asked, and when Sarah Jane nodded, he said, "Well, as silly as it may seem, there was never a time I felt more like an action hero than when I was looking after you after you'd had those psychic episodes. I was always scared when it happened, but knowing that I was helping out the one woman on board gave me this strange pleasure which I was a little ashamed of."

"Oh, that's just what men like you get pleasure from, Harry," Sarah Jane said jokingly. "Being the knight and shining armor who saves the life of the damsel in distress whenever he gets the chance. Why let the woman be the hero when the men can just carry them away from the danger and get all the honor for themselves while the woman just adores them for saving her life? James Bond, indeed."

Harry, clearly not getting that she was joking, blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to put women down or anything like that. I was just admitting how I felt back then. I've changed a lot since then, I promise…"

Sarah Jane laughed. "You don't ever get it, do you, Harry? I was just joking! What you said does sound a little as if some macho fantasy of yours came true during our adventures, but I'm not actually offended by it. In fact, I always thought you were too sweet and naive to actually be misogynistic."

"Good to know that my good deeds back then aren't tainted in your memory by thoughts that I hate women," Harry said.

"You may underestimate them sometimes, but you certainly don't hate them," Sarah Jane said.

"All right. So now I know what I need to work on," Harry said, and they both laughed.

It was then that Christine came in with a refilled drink. "Doc, I got the drink for when Sarah Jane…" and upon seeing Sarah Jane looking a little better (although still somewhat pale) and laughing along with Harry, the girl beamed. "You're okay again, Sarah Jane!" she exclaimed. "For a moment, I thought you were going to stay unconscious all day, but it's good to see that you're awake and feeling better."

"Well, Christine, I'm still a little weak, but Harry here can never keep anyone feeling down even when they're sick," Sarah Jane said. "Now Harry, would you mind helping me up so I can have the drink Christine has so kindly brought over?"

"That would be my pleasure, Sarah," Harry said, and he held unto Sarah Jane's shoulder as she pulled herself up to a sitting position.

Christine sighed, thinking she could never understand the interactions between those two. But she still sat down next to Sarah Jane as she slowly sipped the iced water she'd gotten for her. With just a couple of sips, the color started coming back into her cheeks, to the point where the paleness was almost completely gone.

"And now you've got to have your medicine," Harry said, taking out the ESR bottle from his bag and a small spoon. He then carefully filled the spoon with the light green liquid and placed it in Sarah Jane's mouth. She took her time swallowing the medicine, which tasted a lot like fizzy lime soda, as was required to get its full effect. And once she'd finished it, she felt as if the fever was truly easing off then.

"Feeling better now, Sarah?" Harry asked.

"Better than when I woke up, that's for sure," she answered.

"I take that as a yes," Harry said. "But now that I know you're more at ease, I take it you noticed a little too much of what I was thinking when you asked me if these incidents felt more like an adventure during our travels?"

"Yes. Did it really seem much scarier now that we're in more ordinary settings?" Sarah Jane asked.

"It sure did, especially since I thought the ESR would put a stop to it for good after a while. But seeing it continue happening to you, and this time without giant bugs or Sontarans chasing after us, made it feel like a more serious incident. These episodes really can happen to you when you least expect them, not just when we're somewhere in space," Harry admitted.

"I was actually just as shocked as you were when I discovered this myself," Sarah Jane said. "At first, it was when I was traveling alone with the Doctor, but he was convinced that the exposure to radiation and gases was what caused it. Then, shortly after I got back home, I had an episode again when I was visiting my friends Tom and Violet Marsh. I'd convinced them that I'd found a way to treat the sickness I sometimes got after having my visions, and so when I started getting this awful stomach ache and fever after I'd had a vision, we were all scared."

"Hold on? Did you experience that same post- travel sickness I had?" Harry asked.

"What post- travel sickness? No one told me anything about that, Harry," Sarah Jane said.

Harry then explained to her the strange illness he'd gone through once he'd returned home from their travels, and how he'd spend weeks with symptoms like those of food poisoning, but would not recover when given any form of treatment until he'd followed the Brigadier's advice to go out more. He also told her that some other past companions had experienced this and only recovered once they went on seeking lives of travel and adventure.

"And did you ever find out what caused this?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No. The only possible explanation anyone can think of is the same as what the Doctor thought was causing that psychic illness of yours: exposure to radiation and gases," Harry said. "Now, how long did it take you to recover from it?"

"Only three days, actually. I then followed Tom and Violet along on one of their concert tours even though they insisted I shouldn't, and just by doing that, I recovered. Strange, isn't it? I was only sick for a couple of days while you were like that for almost a month," Sarah Jane said.

"Do you think your powers helped you in some way?" Harry asked.

"Could be, but it's still interesting to see that so many of us experienced this. It's as if the TARDIS leaves behind some form of energy on those who travel in it which requires them to constantly live lives of adventure or else get sick. You become incapable of functioning if you try to settle down," Sarah Jane said.

"You got that right. Could it be trying to turn us all into Time Lords?" Harry asked.

"That would be fun to see happen. You guys already sound a lot like the Doctor sometimes and with Harry actually being a doctor, who knows what sort of powers he'd have?" Christine said.

"Well, twelve years after setting foot in the TARDIS, I'm still not capable of reading minds with as much accuracy as either you or Sarah can, Christine, so don't count on me becoming psychic even if I am somehow capable of regeneration," Harry said with a smile.

"But you still haven't told us what happened in your vision, Sarah Jane. I was able to hear Rose's voice calling out for her mom a while after you became unconscious, but I had no idea of what was going on," Christine said.

And so, Sarah Jane told them about how Jackie Tyler had walked into Northern Horizon's ballroom and found herself in the middle of a New Year's Eve party in 1924, coming across both a former caretaker and her friend who'd been killed weeks earlier, who informed her that everyone in the party was dead and experiencing the same day repeatedly. Jackie had then given into the strong withdrawal she'd been having for weeks, drinking heavily and even dancing with one of the dead party guests. But upon being stopped by the twin daughters of the caretaker, she'd been forced to withdraw from the action, and was then taken out of the scene by the car accident victim from months back.

If it hadn't been for Christine's telepathic communication with Rose a while back, Harry would have been very shocked by all this information. But knowing what he did, all he asked once Sarah Jane was done was, "How do you think Jackie was capable of seeing this if she doesn't have Rose's powers?"

"Ghosts can be noticed by anyone who examines closely enough, Harry, not just by psychics. Otherwise, how do you think some of my friends would have survived the adventures we had in the past?" Sarah Jane said.

"Good point. I forget about that sometimes," Harry said. "So, seeing how Rose now has UNIT officials willing to help her out, how do you think they'll be able to handle fighting the supernatural? Most of their work was dedicated to defeating aliens in the past, and the Brigadier admitted to me that many officials were at first suspicious about you and your motives behind joining forces with the Doctor, thinking that you wanted him to lead him towards believing in superstition instead of working to find the real causes behind some of the problems they encountered."

"Oh, really? And can you tell me who those officers were by any chance?" Sarah Jane asked, although this wasn't news to her, since she kept a close mental inspection on the officers during her early days at UNIT. She just wanted to see how much Harry really knew about the old trust issues.

"Rest assured that it wasn't either the Brigadier or Sergeant Benton. They had their doubts at times, but they always believed you had good intentions in helping them out. The Brigadier, however, liked to keep people anonymous when sharing this sort of information, so he never gave any names," Harry said.

"As to your question, I'm sure UNIT is willing to fight anything for the Doctor's sake. If they could put up with a crazy psychic woman, then maybe they can attempt confronting an angry ghost as well. It will help a lot if Rose can guide them through it."

"If she doesn't freeze up like you just did, that is," Christine said anxiously.

"Who knows what it would be capable of doing to her if that happened? And if she was to handle it alone, it would much worse," Sarah Jane said. Then, looking at Harry, she said, "Don't you think I should return to London within the next two days? If I did, then maybe I could help Rose out when she sees the entity at the party."

"Don't even think about it, Sarah. Given the state you've been in recently, how do you think you'll handle staying well during a flight? You should stay with me instead, and we'll see if there's some other way we could help Rose," Harry said.

"But I don't believe anyone could help Rose as much as I could, Harry. Could you imagine, for instance, what might have happened if I wasn't around when the Doctor transferred himself over to Christine's mind? And besides, I already promised Tom Marsh that I'd get back home if I failed to recover from these episodes," Sarah Jane insisted.

"She's right, Harry. Since she could communicate with the Doctor, she helped Rose and me through the whole thing. And if you're scared that she'll be alone, then why can't we go with her? Neither of us has plans for Christmas, and you've told me that you have a ton of money for anything we want, so there's nothing to stop us from going back to London," Christine said.

Harry thought about it for a moment. Then, with a smile, he said, "I suppose having a doctor by your side will help make the plane ride more bearable. Also, I've grown to miss England during Christmastime. Here it's usually cool and without a trace of snow, which is nice until I start remembering how happy I used to get during the first snowfall of the year. And Christine claims she's never seen snow, so that might be a first for her."

"I'm loving the idea already, Doc," Christine said cheerfully. "A Christmas with Sarah Jane and Rose sounds a lot better than a Christmas with cranky old Mrs. Corrigan and her annoying cats."

"Sounds wonderful," Sarah Jane said. "Now, would you mind telling me who's Mrs. Corrigan, Christine?"

"She's my neighbor, and she used to babysit me before Harry came along, Sarah Jane, and now she's the one who spreads all the awful rumors about us," Christine said.

"What rumors?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Just questions about my credibility as a doctor and why I spend so much time with Christine. It's nothing too serious if you really think about it," Harry said.

"Whatever they may be, she certainly doesn't sound like someone who embraces southern hospitality," Sarah Jane said.

"Got that right," Christine said.

"So, this is going to be interesting. All of us who've been helping Rose over the past months will probably be gathering together for the first time. Do you think the Doctor will be willing to give us all a ride in the TARDIS if he makes it out of Rose's mind without any issues?' Harry said.

"I'll be sure to ask him when the time comes," Sarah Jane said smiling. "But for now, we've got to keep our focus on Rose, right Christine?"

"I can't think of anything more important right now," Christine said.


	42. Chapter 42

Just as Sarah Jane had wanted, Tom and Violet started preparing to go to Northern Horizons, getting breakfast ready for Eric and Heather and even leaving a message for Jackie and Rose informing them that they were on their way.

But before they could set foot in their car, a yellow taxi cab parked in front of their house, with the broad-shaped, dark -haired driver sticking his head out the window and saying, "Hello there. Got some important business to take care of, isn't that right?"

For a moment, Tom and Violet were thinking that the cab driver was dropping off Sarah Jane (strange as it was seeing how she'd called Tom only an hour earlier), and so they peered closely at the cab to see if there were any passengers on board. It turned out they were right, although the passenger wasn't Sarah Jane, but rather a tall, muscular girl wearing a brown, native-style dress and a long brown cloak. She was shivering heavily, and glared suspiciously at the couple.

"Shouldn't we have just stayed around to watch Rose?" she asked, speaking in what sounded like a combined Russian and North American accent.

"Sarah Jane's friends are going to need a lot of explaining when they get there, and with everything you were able to see, Lyssa, you might be the right person for the job. And besides, I like running into people I should be avoiding, as you've probably learned by now," the cabbie said with a smile.

Lyssa chuckled. "Yeah, as if having half of the residents of the Land of Fiction trying to hang you didn't bother you in the slightest."

"Excuse me, but who are you two and how do you know Sarah Jane?" Violet demanded.

"Did Sarah Jane ever tell you about her time traveling adventures?" the cabbie asked.

"Yes. We thought her stories seemed a little outlandish, but given all the mishaps we'd had with her in the past, we couldn't doubt her for a minute," Tom said.

"You see, Lyssa and I happen to be another one of these time travels, although we've had a couple of, let's say, challenges with certain authorities in past time periods which make things a little more complicated than they were for your friend," the cabbie explained.

"Well, there we have it, Tom. We've found ourselves in the hands of time traveler rebels. This day just keeps getting more fascinating as it goes on," Violet said.

"Now, are you going to accept a ride from us?" the cabbie asked.

"Would you mind telling us your name first?" Tom asked.

"With pleasure. The name's Captain Jack."

…

After a good cup of tea from Victoria and some words of reassurance from Eleanor Oswald, Rose was soon composed enough to tell the group her story, starting with her vision of the ballroom and ending with what had just happened to her mother.

"At first, Mummy looked as if she'd fallen asleep in her desk. Then, she slowly got up and started walking around the hotel, with her eyes wide open but completely still, making her look like a zombie," Rose said.

"How long did it take her to get to the ballroom?" Victoria asked.

"About a minute. She was there for only a while, but that was where she started mumbling, sounding like she was arguing with someone. She then took out wine bottles from a small refrigerator in a closet, drinking three whole bottles before I woke her up. And when that was over, she was crying, telling me she was so happy to see me because something scary had just happened to her, but when I tried to comfort her, she started yelling at me and threw a wine bottle across the room," Rose continued.

"And was that when you called Allison for help?" Eleanor asked.

"Yes. Mummy has the numbers of all the hotel workers inside a notebook in her desk. Allison got there very quickly, just a while before you and Clara arrived. She seemed much better at calming Mummy down, and when I asked why that was, she told me that it was because Mummy didn't want to talk about her problems to a small kid like me since I wouldn't understand what was happening to her."

"So, it's gotten this complicated already," Nina said. "Maybe if we had come to present day England sooner, we could have avoided these problems."

"Now Nina, it's not your fault," Victoria said. "You weren't actually here to see Rose's problems in person. If anything, I should be the one taking responsibility for this."

"Nonsense," Ace scoffed. "You've been dedicating so much time to helping UNIT with this case. Blaming yourself for this would seem pathetic."

"Ace, it's not fair to make fun of someone for feeling guilty," Eleanor said.

"I'm not making fun of her, Mrs. Oswald! I'm just saying that blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong when you've been helping all along is stretching the whole matter too far. You're putting too much responsibility on your shoulders, and that's almost as bad as doing nothing at all," Ace insisted.

"Point taken, Ace," Victoria said.

"And there you go again, being all nice and not lifting a finger in defense of yourself. I wonder how you survived your time with the Professor," Ace said.

"Now you are making fun of her," Nina said.

"Enough of this!" Eleanor yelled. "Looks like we're in desperate need of someone with both experience and patience to lead us out of this mess."

"And what's your experience? Driving a bunch of five -year-olds to school?" Ace said.

"I'll have you know I'm no stranger to psychic experiences," Eleanor said firmly. "Many years ago, I had a neighbor who told me about several things that would happen to my family in the future, like how my father would soon get a promotion, my sister was to experience a deep period of depression, and I would struggle to find the occupation I wanted the most. All of this would come true within a period of three years, and everyone in the area soon started coming to her to learn about this information, something which she usually did reluctantly because of how she believed it was best to let life run its course without any more interference than was necessary."

"Are you saying that you've always known what's happening to me, Mummy?" Clara asked.

"You're not exactly like that woman, Clara, but I understand that you are experiencing something similar. What it's supposed to mean, I'm not sure of, but I think we will know as time goes by," Eleanor said.

Clara frowned. "So, you were never telling me the truth at all? You knew so much about this and you couldn't tell me anything about it at all?"

Hearing this didn't please Nina either. Her own mother had given her a long talk on people with special gifts and the right way to use them when she'd been as young as Clara. But then again, because of their lifestyle, her family had always been more open to the mystic and spiritual mysteries of life than was the average person. Eleanor Oswald, on the other hand, lived such an ordinary life that seeing what was happening with Clara would have left her with no choice but to keep what she knew about psychic powers a secret. However, no matter how good her intentions were, keeping her daughter in the dark for so long about her abilities seemed unfair to Nina. In her opinion, there were some things which just shouldn't be kept hidden from children, and the knowledge that they might possess strong powers was one of them.

However, she knew that someone in here had to settle things down. And so, she turned to Eleanor and Clara and said, "This seems like a problem that you'll have to talk about with your daughter at another time, Mrs. Oswald. Right now, our priority is helping Rose."

"I agree," Eleanor said. "Clara, we'll talk more about this later. Is that okay with you, dear?"

"Yes, Mummy," Clara said. Although she wasn't happy about what her mother was doing, she cared as much about resolving Rose's problems as much as the others did. After all, if it hadn't been for a dream she'd had of Rose wandering around the hotel anxiously, Rose wouldn't be here right now.

"So, can I first get a detailed explanation of what's happening?" Eleanor asked

"Looks like a job for you, Victoria," Ace said.

"Of course it is, Ace. Now Mrs. Oswald, do you think you can handle any more bizarre yet true stories?" Victoria asked.

"What I've seen already has prepared to hear just about anything, Victoria. Also, feel free to call me Ellie."

"Okay," Victoria said. And so, she gave Eleanor the full details of what she knew about the situation, starting with an explanation of who the Doctor was and how he'd gotten himself inside Rose's head, and ending with the haunting incidents which had been going on in Northern Horizons.

"So, let me get this straight. We're not only dealing with psychics and haunted hotels, but aliens as well?" Ellie asked once she had finished.

"That's correct," Victoria said.

Ellie laughed. "I don't think even fairy tales have ever been this shocking. We've got both an alien and his long- estranged granddaughter in the picture, one of you happens to be from the past and is incapable of aging, and Rose happens to not only be psychic, but also a potential savior with powers that no one is certain of yet. You've sure got a strong chip over your shoulders is all I can say."

"And you're still certain about helping us?" Ace asked.

"I don't have much else to do besides taking care of Clara, so I could use a little adventure right now," Ellie said.

"Clara could still help as well, can she?" Rose asked.

"I wouldn't have gotten involved if it wasn't for what she'd predicted was happening to you, and so keeping her out of your adventures would not only be unfair, but also inconvenient."

"Thank you for being so helpful, Ellie. Now, should we go over to Northern Horizons?" Nina said.

"But how? Through my car, or this time machine of your alien friend?" Ellie asked.  
"What do you think, girls?" Victoria asked, looking at Nina and Ace.

"Well, we already told you that it's unnecessary to take the TARDIS over to Northern Horizons for the time vortex to do its work, and given how unreliable it can be at getting us to our desired destination, we could end up at King Arthur's court once again," Nina said.

"The legends of King Arthur are real as well? Oh, dear. I don't know how much more new information I can take in," Ellie said, pressing her hand against her forehead.

"Nina, could you try to keep Ellie's shock level to a minimum, please? The poor woman has had enough for one day," Victoria said.

Rose and Clara started giggling. "She sounds just like a schoolteacher," Clara said.

"She actually _is_ a schoolteacher, Clara," Rose said.

"Which makes it even funnier. I wonder if all schoolteachers are this bossy when they're not at school," Clara said.

Nina took a quick scan of everyone in the flat. "About how much people do you think could fit into your car, Ellie?"

"About four or five people. I really don't believe I could fit seven people into it though. Don't you have your own car, Victoria?" Ellie said.

"No. Unfortunately, I never gathered up the courage to learn to drive. I always find myself starring at the busy highways and shuddering at the thought of having to go through them in my own car," Victoria answered.

Ellie shook her head upon both realizing the situation at hand and hearing Victoria's overly formal way of speaking. But she couldn't think too much about this before Ace said, "I had a handful of lessons on how to handle the coordinates on my own during my time with the Professor. Perhaps I could handle the task of bringing the little ones over to…"

"Ace, don't even think about it! Don't you remember the Doctor explaining some of the rules the Time Lords put in place on the time machines? The prohibition of children younger than the age of ten aboard was one of the principal ones, having been established after all the trouble young Gallifreyans aroused when their parents would take them on trips," Nina said.

"Oh, really?" Ace asked, sounding surprised. "The Doctor never told me that. And anyway, I thought he basically ignored every rule the Time Lords put in place. Are you sure there's no way around that rule?"

"I don't know, and at this point, I don't want to try testing it out myself. The Doctor's in enough trouble already, and I don't want to make it worse by letting you cause any more mischief," Nina said.

"But Nina, I wanted to go inside the TARDIS!" Rose protested.

"You just might be able to when the Doctor gets back to his regular form, but for now, we must stick to business. Victoria, you should come along with me, Ellie, and Rose to Northern Horizons. Ace, you should stay here with Clara and call UNIT," Nina said.

"Now, why do I have to stay here? I might just be able to bring the ghosts down with my Nitro 9!" Ace said.

"Trust me, Ace. I don't believe that stuff works on ghosts," Nina said. The Nitro 9 may have worked on the dragons in King Arthur's court, but Nina had a feeling that the situation at Northern Horizons couldn't be handled by turning the place into a war zone. And this was why she felt Ace needed to stay while Victoria came along; fighters had to know when it was best for them to settle down, while those left on the sidelines needed a chance to step up and take action once in a while.

Clara groaned in disappointment, but was still more cooperative than Ace was, saying, "I'll doing anything you guys want me to do, I guess."

As they were preparing to leave, Rose came up to Victoria and asked in a whisper, "Victoria, have you been having visions of the Bad Wolf?"

"I dreamt about it last night, and just before you arrived, Nina had a vision about it, which I managed to see as well," Victoria responded.

"And were those the only times you saw it?" Rose asked.

"I believe so," Victoria said.

"Do you think you're probably developing psychic powers because of me?" Rose asked, getting to the point she was most concerned about.

Victoria shrugged. "I have no idea why this is happening to me, Rose. I've never had visions in the past, and my dreams would always just be dreams. Anything could have caused this, like some dormant ability I had inside me all along, meeting you, being in the TARDIS, or maybe even Northern Horizons itself. I suspect it may have been the hotel or its spirits which caused Truman to be so irrational around me and Laura when we told your mother about her friend's death, seeing as how courteous he started acting later on, and it may still have a grip on his employees."

"And my mummy as well?" Rose asked, looking on the verge of tears.

Victoria put an arm around Rose's shoulder. The girl was obviously very frightened about the situation, not that different from how Victoria herself had been all those years ago as a young time traveler. She'd sometimes wondered if things would have been any easier for her if there had been another girl or woman on board, someone with both brains and courage who could have understood her struggles and have guided her in a way which the Doctor and Jamie couldn't have. In some ways, she figured this made Rose much luckier than she'd been, because she had more than one female role model in addition to the Doctor to help guide her though this.

"Rose, you have many people looking out for you," she said. "It's not going to be easy for any of us, but we have no intentions on giving up. If we come across anything difficult, it's all right to be scared or have doubts. But the most important thing is to never lose hope and to keep working towards justice in your own way. And we will do your best to look out for your mother."

Rose gave her a small smile. Then she said, "So, you really think I'm luckier than you because I have more women to help me?"

"I do, actually. Although I'm glad to see that men and women are more equal now, I still think girls are at more of an advantage when they have a woman they can look up to. I mean, my own mother died when I was young, and I was the only girl in the TARDIS when I was with the Doctor, so I never received any enlightenment on strong women until much later, which showed in my fear of almost everything when I traveled," Victoria answered.

And as they were about to enter Ellie's car, Rose asked, "So, I already know that the Doctor can change into another body when he's about to die."

"Yes, that's right," Nina answered.

"Do you know if it's possible for the Doctor to go from being a man to a woman?" Rose said.

Both Nina and Victoria chuckled, while Ellie just looked confused. "Well, the Doctor knew several time lords who did change their sex upon regeneration. It was usually involuntary, but some did manipulate their genes to make it happen," Nina explained.

"So, it is possible? I never knew that before," Victoria said.

"It's not usually something Time Lords like sharing with other species, since it tends to make them either jealous or outraged," Nina explained. "Now why is it that you ask, Rose?"

"Because Victoria was telling me about how it's good for girls to have strong women to look up, so I wondered if the Doctor could ever change to a woman for that to happen," Rose said.

"Clever girl, but honestly, given how the Doctor usually travels with women, I think he'd most likely serve as a partner for a man if he were to become a woman," Nina said.

"A nonromantic partner, that is," Victoria clarified.

Ellie shook her head upon hearing what she considered to be crazy talk. "All right, ladies. Could we settle down with all this talk about Time Lords for now? I'm going to be driving right now, and this all sounds just too distracting for me to concentrate," she said.

"Of course," Nina said. But once they were taking off, she whispered to Rose, "But if this does happen someday, be sure to call me, because I'd love to see if the Doctor is just as brilliant and eccentric as a female as he is as a male."


	43. Chapter 43

By the time they'd made it to Northern Horizons, Tom and Violet still didn't fully understand who Captain Jack Harkness and Lyssa of Titus were supposed to be, but they knew they'd run into a scape or two across time and space, which was explanation enough for them. Their adventures had ranged from witnessing royal ceremonies that lasted nearly a lifetime on Mars to fighting off a power-hungry giant in a world where hundreds of fictional characters came to life, getting special permission to take on this task from none other than Alice Lowell of _Alice in Wonderland,_ who'd become the temporary ruler of the Land of Fiction after she and a band of quirky characters brought down the reign of the tyrannical Queen of Hearts.

"You make our friend Sarah Jane's adventures seem like a business trip to Glasgow in comparison to your own," Violet had said once she'd heard all the time travelers 'stories.

"The last thing I'd call an investigation of dinosaurs on modern day Earth, seeing frozen humans becoming giant bugs, or meeting a duplicate of Frankenstein's monster would be boring," Jack Harkness said with a grin.

"I don't know, Jack. I still think our sole Dalek adventure was a walk in the park compared to capturing the giant behind the beanstalk fable. I managed to blast those pepper pot-shaped beasts through their eye sockets in a second, while that old giant threw me out of his castle in the sky," Lyssa said.

"Now how did you survive a fall like that?" Tom asked.

"For that, I'd have to thank my Victorian _sestra_ , and how she managed to…"

"All right, Lyssa. Remember what I told you about giving too much information away to strangers?" Jack warned.

"How can I ever forget your lectures on paradoxes, Jack? You made yourself look like some of Titus' chief scientists whenever that subject was brought up," Lyssa said.

"Chief scientists? I thought your planet was supposed to be primitive," Violet said.

"In comparison to other future planets, we are, but we're still more advanced than the late twentieth century Earth. We may dress and live like indigenous people, but our technology would amaze many scientists living in the present day, since we've invented machines that have the power to control the weather, and fires which are capable of letting us see what goes on in rival planets," Lyssa explained.

"So, you make up for your lack of modern clothing through technology capable of controlling the elements? Doesn't sound too bad to me," Tom said.

Jack looked closely towards the area he was driving around. "Looks like we're here at last," he said. "Now as much as I'd like to, neither Lyssa nor I can escort you two into Northern Horizons. As the rules of time travel specify, there are certain occasions where we can only be onlookers, without intervening on what's happening in front of us."

"But from what Sarah Jane has told me, Jackie Tyler seems to be in major trouble. Are you really sure there's nothing you can do to help her?" Tom asked.

"I'm afraid not. That's where you two will have to jump in on your own, unless you manage to get a little unexpected help from some friends," Jack said.

"If only that were the case," Violet said with a sigh.

"One can only hope for the best," Lyssa said. "I wish you two good luck in helping your friend."

"Thanks, Lyssa. We wish good luck to you and Jack as well," Tom said.

"Bye, Lyssa and Jack," Violet said as she and Tom stepped out of the taxi.

"Bye. Hope this isn't the last time we run into each other!" Jack called out, giving them a friendly wave.

In their rush to get inside Northern Horizons, neither of them noticed that the taxi cab didn't move an inch away from the driveway, with both Jack and Lyssa keeping a sharp eye on them.

"Do you think they can handle this on their own, Jack?" Lyssa asked.

"I have no idea, Lyssa. As far as I can tell, the more people that come around to help Jackie Tyler, the better it will be for all of them," Jack admitted.

…

To Tom and Violet's relief, Jackie wasn't alone in the hotel. A woman with sloppy brown hair and a pink uniform greeted them as soon as they approached the entrance, shaking their hands and saying, "I can't tell you how happy I am that you two dropped in right now. Jackie hasn't been at all at ease since Rose left, and she needs all the help she can get. My name is Allison, and it's a pleasure to meet you two today."

"Excuse me, but how did you know we weren't just hotel guests?" Violet asked.

"I've been working here for over fifteen years, so I just know certain things more than others," the woman answered. "Also, from the number of people I've been tracking down, we've only had about fifteen guests in the past month, and many of them left within a day of their arrival. And since Jackie's had a fair number of visitors in the time she's been here, I could simply assume that there's half a chance that anyone that comes here would want to see her."

"You sound like a very observant woman," Tom said.

"Many have said the same before," Allison said with a smile. "And would you two mind telling me who you are? For some reason, you seem quite familiar to me."

"We're Violet and Tom Marsh. We were in a band called the Vagabonds and Ultraviolet back in the seventies, and we got very close to topping the charts on several occasions," Violet explained.

"Oh! That's how I recognized you! My brother was a big fan of glam rock back in the day, and if he wasn't singing along to Suzi Quatro or David Bowie, then he was humming the tune of "Running Up the Meadow Again". He said it was one of those songs that sounds so simple and fun yet has some deeper meaning behind it, and although I'm not one who cares much for popular music groups, I've always been curious as to how they can do something like that," Allison said.

Tom laughed. "Well, it's never easy to do. You must get your inspiration somewhere, and then come up with a way to put your idea into words without being too complex, but also allowing the listener to catch the deeper meaning behind what you're trying to say. I learned a lot about this back then by looking into Bob Dylan and Lou Reed's songs and then modeling my own work based on what they would do…"

"Tom, please don't turn this into a lecture," Violet said, starting to feel irritated for some strange reason. Turning to Allison, she smiled and said, "When it comes to songwriting, he could ramble on for days. He gets so philosophical that you lose track of what he means rather quickly."

"That's no problem for me, my dear. People always complain about how I ramble on about nothing important all the time. And besides, given Jackie's current state, I could use some explanation about meaningful writing."

"What's actually going on with her? We already know about how she's somewhat of a writer. Is it starting to become an obsession for her?" Tom asked.

"Greater than an obsession. According to Rose, there's almost nothing anyone can do to get Jackie to leave her typewriter when she goes through one of her episodes. As for the time I've been here with her, she's been endlessly going through several books, repeating certain passages out loud and asking me if I can get some deeper meaning behind it."

"Do you know what books she's looking through?" Violet asked.

"One's a book on research that's been done on ESP. Jackie let me borrow it several weeks ago, so I have a good idea of what's in it…"

"Are you saying you know Rose's situation?" Tom said.

"Yes. I've known since the day the writer of the ESP book stayed in the hotel and witnessed one of Rose's telepathic incidents, and given my own minor talents, I've been helping both her and Jackie whenever I can."

Violet suddenly stepped away from the others, starting to feel her pulse increasing and a wave of fatigue spreading through her body, a sensation she didn't believe was caused simply from receiving startling news.

"Violet? Are you feeling okay?" Tom asked, immediately aware that something was wrong.

"It's not much, Tom. I'm just getting a little weary. Perhaps taking a seat will be enough to make me feel better," Violet said, coming off as she was annoyed by his concern.

"Are you sure? We don't want to have another difficult case to handle, after all," Tom said. He was no stranger to incidents like this, remembering all too well the time when Violet was being haunted by the Trickster and she'd failingly attempted to make herself seem okay to both him and Sarah Jane.

"I'll be fine, Tom! Just let me take this break," Violet insisted, and then walked over to find a place to sit.

"Violet, you better be careful about those chairs. We've had a couple incidents where guests have tried sitting in them and…" Allison started.

"Oh, shut up!" Violet yelled, feeling her head starting to throb with pain. "How can such a simple task be putting me at risk? Perhaps it's crazy people like yourself that are driving Jackie bonkers!"

"Calm down, honey," Tom said, but Violet ended up slapping him in the arm. "Leave me alone!" she snapped, leaving her husband turning to Allison with a frightened look on his face.

"What's happening to her?" he asked.

"There's just something about this place that causes people to start thinking irrationally over manners as small as taking a seat or someone unexpectedly disturbing an employee. They'll snap at you for it, or if they get really carried away, they could start behaving violently," Allison explained, doing her best to remain composed.

At this point, Violet found a large chair with a dark red pillow at the seat, and she prepared to finally sit down. But just as she had her bottom on the chair, she heard the loud snap of wood, and before long, she was violently thrusted onto the linoleum floor, getting cut in the knee and bending her ankle painfully. She tried calling out for help, but instead let out a chilling, inhuman scream, which frightened her more than the fall did. _What's going in with me?_ She wondered in fear. _It's as if something evil's gaining control of my mind, like when Andrea Yates got into my head with the help of the trickster._

It had been enough to scare Tom much more than before, running over to her and saying, "Violet! What did you do? It looks like that fall caused a little too much damage."

But rather than accepting Tom's help, Violet got the sensation that she was being approached by a predator who may have looked nonthreatening, but who would attack her the moment it got close enough. And so, she picked up the closest piece of wood and sprang it towards him, yelling, "You can't hurt me even you try, old beast!"

Tom yelled, but Allison managed to catch the piece before it could hit him. "That's enough, Violet," she said steadily. "No one's trying to hurt here. It's just me and your husband Tom who are by your side."

And just as she said this was when Jackie Tyler showed up, with her hair unruly, her eyes surrounding by dark circles, and wearing an oversized sports shirt along with grey cotton trousers. In her arms was a small black book which she wouldn't stop flipping through, refusing to look up even to watch where she was going through.

"Jackie?" Tom asked in surprise.

Allison shook her head upon seeing her there, thinking that she already had enough to handle with. "Jackie, get out of here right now. Some friends came over to help you, and one of them is now behaving hysterically. It's just as dangerous as you were trying to warn me, so step away while you can."

Hearing Violet's hysterical cries, Jackie was suddenly struck with terror. "What is it, Allison? Is it Rose? Has something happened to her?"

"It's not Rose, it's your friend Violet Marsh. She came here with her husband to help you out, but it looks like she's now under the influence of whatever it is that's haunting Northern Horizons," Allison explained.

Jackie glared at her. "Allison, either get rid of her or keep her locked up in a room. If Rose shows up here, I don't want Violet being anywhere near her if she remains in this state. You may have not been around when it happened to me, but I became dangerous and started threatening Truman and Susan Foreman right when Rose was present. I don't want to force her to go through that same experience again."

Allison was speechless for a moment. On the one hand, she was relieved that Jackie was taking notice of what went on around her and was aware of the dangers present. On the other hand, she was acting way too harshly towards her friend, almost as if she didn't care about Violet's suffering so long as she was out of Rose's way. In fact, she wondered if the entity was at work with Jackie as well.

But for all her menacing emotion, Jackie didn't appear to be capable of violence. Instead, she kept starring at Violet, who was kneeling on the floor and still crying out, and Tom, who stood next to the check in center with his hands buried on his face, while glaring.

She finally spoke up, saying, "This is almost exactly like on of Purdue's diary entries."

"Which one?" Allison asked.

"It was written in December of 1979, two days shy of the new year. Purdue was doing his nightly inspection of the hotel…"

"I remember that day all too well," Allison interrupted. "I had stayed in late to check on the girls and was about to head for a brief holiday with my brother in Nottingham. One moment, Purdue was his usual self, grumbling about my unnecessary presence while walking around the lobby. The next, he became very still, looking white as a ghost and with a look of shock on his face. I came over to him to see what was wrong, and just when I got next to him, he struck me in the face, calling me the spawn of Satan and demanding me to leave or else he would kill me. The poor girls were in tears, and there wasn't another employee in sight, but I had this awful feeling that if I stayed to help them out then I would wind up dead, and so I ran out of there as quick as I could. All the while, Purdue kept hurtling insults at me, yelling as loudly as he could until I was out of sight."

"It doesn't sound that different from what happened to me," Jackie said. Then, with a dark look on her face, she said, "And that's why we should deal with Violet sooner rather than later."

"Jackie, please think about what you're doing," Tom begged.

But Jackie ignored him as she started marching over to Violet, and upon getting by her side, she demanded, "Violet, I'm going to have to place you in the closest room right now. I can't afford to have you going around trying to hurt Tom or Allison or possibly even Rose, so think of it as for the good of…"

"Stay away from me!" Violet yelled. "It's you and everyone else that's putting this place in danger, not me!"

"You can either follow me or you'll have to leave. Do you understand?"

"No! Go away!" Jackie heard a menacing voice calling out which clearly wasn't Violet's. And when she turned face her, she faced the greatest terror of all, for instead of seeing Violet's face, she saw that of Peggy from the New Year's Eve party, with her dark hair looking as neat as it did then, and her dress as unblemished as if it had been bought yesterday. But her face displayed nothing but evil as she glared at Jackie and said, "It's not over yet, Jackie, and perhaps it will never be."

Jackie then fell to the floor in a faint just she sensed Peggy leaping up towards her.


	44. Chapter 44

For Rose and her companions, the rest of the ride went by without much happening. Left amazed by the possibility of Time Lords being able to change genders, Rose kept asking Nina and Victoria endless questions about other ways their identities could change, like whether they always looked human or could change themselves into one of those lizard-like creatures which were the common appearance of aliens on TV, and whether they could go back to being children upon regeneration or if they always stayed as adults. Victoria had little she could tell her, but Nina happened to know a little more, and so she explained to Rose that things were different for all Time Lords, but that for the most part, they usually looked like humans and regenerated into adults, although the Doctor did say there were all sorts of unusual cases coming up from time to time.

Meanwhile, Ellie couldn't bare hearing too much, still being in an anxious state after all the events of the day. And so, she drowned out the conversation with the car radio, preferring listening to the overplayed dance hits over the endless talk on those Time Lord blokes _. Could they even be real,_ she wondered, _or are they just some idea that popped into their heads after witnessing so much crazy stuff?_

Once they returned to the hotel, Ellie was left feeling curious upon seeing the increase of vehicles parked around the driveway when there had been none when she came by to see Rose earlier, including a taxi cab where the driver appeared to be waiting for someone to come by.

"This doesn't look good," she told her companions. "If more people came over to the hotel in the time we were gone, there's no telling what kind of state Rose's mother will be in."

"Don't worry too much, Ellie," Nina said. "For all we knew, these people may have just gone over to the sandwich shop around this area, or to the Spanish market."

"Of course," Ellie said, getting mad at herself over the ideas she was getting.

"But if someone else is there, that can't just mean all's going badly," Victoria said. "Perhaps that means someone's there to help Jackie out and keep her under control while Rose isn't around."

"Yeah," Rose said, finding Ellie's constant worrying to be quite irritating.

"But in all honesty, can you really blame me for the way I'm acting? It's not every day you encounter hauntings and time travelers on the same day," Ellie said.

"You have every right to worry over what distresses you, Ellie, but just remember that you're in very good hands with us," Victoria said. "We all have at least some idea of what we're getting ourselves into."

 _But at Northern Horizons, there are always surprises,_ Rose said, but she knew better than to tell Ellie this.

"Well then, need I be the first one to set foot in this labyrinth of horror, or is someone else here willing to face this invisible devil first?" Ellie asked.

"I know the hotel best, so I think I should go in first," Rose volunteered.

"You're a brave girl indeed, Rose Tyler," Ellie said with a smile.

"No, I'm not. This is just my home for now," Rose said, and along with Ellie, she set foot into what she now thought of as the creepiest home she anyone could have. Nina and Victoria came in shortly after, coming in without showing a sign of fear.

"So, now that we're finally here, let me go ahead and show you where I found Jackie," Ellie said. "If you make your way across the lobby at the left side…"

She was soon interrupted by the appearance of a figure in black who sprang up in front of everyone before of them could take any notice.

And just as she let out a startled gasp, she noticed the figure before her was a young woman, who chuckled upon seeing how shocked she looked.

"Oh dear. I'm sorry if I scared you," the woman said. "It turns out UNIT's a lot quicker at getting the word around than I'd originally thought. Ace called us just a while ago about how you were all going over to Northern Horizons, and I still managed to get here before you did."

"It's Susan!" Rose called out.

"Well, what more could we expect from a Time Lady?" Nina said.

"A Time Lady? Are you saying this woman is one of those aliens?" Ellie asked. "But she looks so normal, expect for maybe her wardrobe choices, and even they make her look more like a spy than a creature from outer space."

"You're not the first human to tell me that," Susan said. "I really do get annoyed by your world's portrayal of aliens as evil little green men determined to take over the world at all costs. There are several of those creatures across the galaxy, but many of us are peaceful beings who want to live our lives with as little trouble as possible, regardless of our exterior appearances."

"I think what's surprising me the most is how you're not as timid as you were in the Doctor's memories," Nina said.

Susan laughed. "I had a lot of time over the years to face my fears. If I had been in this situation back when I was fifteen, I'm sure I would have remained huddled in the background until my grandfather or someone else could reassure me over my own safety."

"I probably would have done the same, to be honest," Victoria said.

"Am I the only one who would have been chasing the ghost around with an ax?" Nina asked.

"Yes, Nina. I believe you are," Ellie said.

"No, you're not. I'd try doing that too," Rose said with a mischievous smile.

"If that's so, would you like me to run up to one of the closets and get an ax for you?" Nina said.

"If you can find one," Rose said.

Ellie held her hand up. "That's enough, Nina. I will not have you putting dangerous ideas into that little girl's head, especially not when there's so much else we have to worry about."

"I don't think she meant for you to take her so seriously," Susan said. "Chasing anyone around with an ax is a major risk factor for all involved, especially if you've never used one before."

This got all the other women laughing, but Rose started looking around the lobby, searching for anything that might be going wrong. Besides the sound of talking, nothing else could be heard right now, which could either mean that all was well or something had occurred that had provoked such silence.

"Rose, is something wrong? You look rather worried," Victoria said.

"She is worried," Nina answered for her. "She's aware of how you never know what to expect from silence, and is wondering if this means all's well or bad."

But the silence from the rest of the hotel didn't last long as they all heard footsteps and a voice calling out, "Hello? Is anyone else in here?"

The sight of a man in a shabby old Led Zeppelin shirt with hair that went down to his neck had Victoria, Ellie, and Susan looking nervous at first, not sure if this was someone who could be trusted. However, Rose immediately recognized him as Tom Marsh (while Nina was aware that she knew him) and ran up to him in relief, hugging him and saying, "Tom! I'm so happy to see you! Do you know how my mummy is doing?"

Tom hugged her back, but made no attempt to hide what was really going on. "Hi Rose. I'm afraid you're not going to like what's happening here. It's pretty serious, and your friends could find themselves in trouble if they're not careful."

"What is it? Is my mummy hurt?" Rose asked, prepared to hear bad news.

"She fainted after seeing a ghost. And before, possibly this same ghost had taken control over Violet, making her become violent and suspicious over all of us," Tom explained.

Rose looked up sadly at Tom, doing her best to hold back the tears which were threatening to come out. "Why did it happen? Is it because I left Mummy alone with Allison instead of staying here to look out for the ghosts?"

"Rose, it wasn't your fault. Whatever's haunting the hotel just seems to leap up whenever it feels like it. If your mum was behaving strangely even when you were around to watch her, that should mean that it really can happen at any moment," Tom said, stroking Rose's hair as he spoke.

Rose nodded, although she was still convinced the situation could have been less serious if she'd been around. "Is Violet okay now?" she asked, wondering if there was still good news to be told.

"Barely so. She's no longer under the influence of the entity, but she's still very scared and overwhelmed with guilt over what she tried doing to us," Tom said. "This isn't her first experience with having someone trying to control her mind, so she didn't become as dangerous as could have been possible, but it didn't fail to gain influence over her, and she feels just as haunted as she did the last time it happened to her."

And at that moment, Rose heard uncontrollable sobbing coming from one of the nearby rooms. It didn't sound as scary as some of the crying she'd heard in the hotel before, which was like listening to an animal being tortured, but it was still full of desperation and fear, making it no less painful to hear.

"Is that…" she started asking.

"Yes, it's Violet," Tom interrupted her. "When I said that the experience had haunted her, I wasn't joking."

"Poor Violet," Rose said. "Do you think there's anything we could do for her?"

"Right now, I'd recommend leaving her alone. Just having me around seems to set her off, and I have no doubt that seeing you here will further trigger her guilt," Tom answered.

"He's right, Rose," Susan said. "The hauntings here are likely to get worse as this party of yours approaches, and it doesn't help at all that the new year is around the corner."

Rose felt herself suddenly trembling, but whether it was from her own fear or the influence of something else, she couldn't tell.

"I think we're scaring Rose a little too much," Tom said. Turning to Rose, he asked, "Did you want to go over to your room or somewhere else right now. Perhaps this is something only some of us should…"

"No!" Susan demanded. "The last thing we want to do is leave Rose alone in any part of Northern Horizons. Not even my grandfather alone could do enough to protect her at this point. The more individuals she has by her side, the safer she'll be, and the same goes for Jackie and the rest of us."

"Hold on. Who's your grandfather?" Tom asked.

"John Smith, the alien who's currently is Rose's head," Susan responded.

"Well, that makes sense. You appear to know more than anyone else here does," Tom said.

"Except for maybe me," Nina said. "I was the one who originally had the Doctor inside my head before transferring him over to Rose so he could survive a little longer."

Tom smiled. "So, it looks like you're in good hands, Rose."

"I hope so," Rose said. She was still trembling, but it all got worse upon feeling a grip coming through her shoulder. It kept getting stronger by the second, until she heard someone whispering, _Follow me._

"Who is this?" Rose asked aloud.

"What's going on with her?" Ellie said, speaking up for the first time since seeing Tom.

"It can only be the voices of the spirits," Nina said. "From what I can tell, they're urging her to come along with them."

Victoria grabbed Rose by the arm. "Don't listen to it, Rose! This can only be a trap."

"No, Victoria. There's probably someplace where she's needed right now, perhaps by her mother's side," Nina said.

"But shouldn't one of us at least accompany her to make sure she doesn't get hurt?" Ellie asked.

Nina considered this for a moment, and then looked thoughtfully at Victoria, Ellie, and Tom. "That may the best thing we can do for her right now. But who's willing to do the honors? From what I can sense, some of us might not be capable of handling whatever Rose might face."

Victoria hesitated as Nina spoke. Ever since she'd gotten herself into this situation, she'd been determined to help no matter how much it scared her. So far, she'd been playing smaller roles, but it still didn't save her from the hauntings and visions she'd been experiencing. If she was finding herself being so disturbed when most of her tasks involved taking in calls in the middle of teaching, then who was to say that if she were to step up and willingly face the ghost she wouldn't have some peace of mind afterwards?

And so, she turned determinedly towards Nina and said, "I'll go with her, Nina. The way I see it, I have more to lose if I stay behind than if I face what's been haunting us all."

Nina smiled. "I knew I was thinking well when I decided to bring you in instead of Ace, Victoria. You always think about the situation at hand before taking action, whereas Ace usually acts first and considers the consequences of her actions afterwards."

Susan then spoke up. "Don't you all realize I came in here for a reason? There's some key information which UNIT recently discovered about this situation, and if Victoria and Rose don't have a clear idea of what they're getting themselves into, they could benefit from my help."

"Then you go ahead as well, Susan. I'm sure Tom and Ellie will appreciate my company," Nina said.

Little did any of them realize that Rose was just a couple steps ahead of them, listening to that insistent voice calling out, _Follow me, Rose. There's nothing to fear if you just follow me._

The voice kept sounding like different people at different times. At first, it sounded like it was Therese or Louise guiding her. Later, it sounded exactly like Peggy's from the New Year's Eve party, with her voice sounding slurred and distant in comparison to the gentleness and alert tones of the twins. And now, the voice was unfamiliar yet a mixture of both haunting and gentle, as if her emotions were constantly conflicting.

"Rose?" she heard Victoria's voice calling out. "Please wait for us, dear. We don't want you to have to face this alone."

"But Victoria, I really need to be somewhere right now," Rose said. She doubted the voice would leave her alone if she strayed from her required task.

And just as this crossed her mind, the voice that had currently taken over said, _Don't listen to them, Rose. You're needed right now._

"She's telling the truth, Rose. I have some information that might help you significantly," Susan said. "For instance, in your visions, if you try adapting to the environment by wearing the clothing of the time period and speaking in a manner similar as your present company, you'll be able to distract the entity for a while because of how you'll seem like just another member of the group. However, by consistently reminding yourself about how it is all a vision and avoiding getting too distracted by any of their activities, you can prevent the entity from…"

 _She's wasting your time, Rose,_ the voice yelled. _Come with me now, or else you'll regret it!_

"I'm sorry, Susan, but I have to do what I'm told right now!" Rose said, and then she started walking away once again.

Victoria sighed, but still followed Rose through. Susan, on the other hand, seemed hesitant to go on, and yet did nothing to stop either Rose or Victoria. Instead, she took out what looked like a walkie talkie and appeared to contemplate whether to call someone, perhaps UNIT, for help.

Once Rose and Victoria approached the rows of hotel rooms, the voice said to Rose in a calmer tone, _Your mother is in room 147, Rose. Step in there, and prepare for what's awaiting you._

"That's where my mummy is, Victoria," Rose said.

"Are you sure you want to go in, Rose?" Victoria asked her.

"I have to," Rose said.

"Then let's go in," Victoria said, and holding Rose's hand, she carefully opened the door, preparing for whatever was waiting for them inside.


	45. Chapter 45

At first, Rose believed that the room she entered was empty. The only things visible within it were a canopy bed with grey bedsheets covering it, a brown chest, and a rocking chair. There was no light source apart from the open window, and an odd smell seemed to fill the place, like a combination of dust and the odor of a blossoming flower.

"What could we possibly find here?" Rose asked.

"I think it's what we're not seeing that we should be keeping an eye out for," Susan said.

A few seconds later, Rose spotted her mother sprawled out on the bed, wearing a white nightgown and looking unusually well after all she'd been going through.

"Rose? Is that you, love," she called out in a sweet voice.

"Yes, Mummy. It's me, Victoria, and Susan," Rose said, not sure if seeing her mother so well was something that ought to concern her.

"Why, it feels as if I've been waiting over a lifetime for you, sweetheart. Now be a good girl and walk over to Mummy," Jackie answered, stretching her arms out to welcome her daughter over.

Victoria looked suspiciously over at Jackie, then turned to Rose and whispered, "You shouldn't do everything she says, Rose. It seems to me that your mother isn't herself right now."

"I think you're right. Mummy doesn't act this sweet even when she's happy," Rose said.

"Excuse me? The way I see things, I'm supposed to be that girl's mother, not you!" Jackie yelled. "I'm the only one Rose should be taking orders from. There's no telling what a bunch of freaks like you two girls would do to her if I were to leave her alone with you once again. Now Rose, ignore the bad ladies and come over to me."

Rose glared at her. "Victoria and Susan have been doing a lot to help me, Mummy. You always tell me to be polite to anyone who's nice to me, so now I want you to do the same."

"Nonsense! I know trouble when I see it, young lady. So if you don't leave these freaks right now, I'll have to make you leave by force." She then steadily set foot out of bed and marched over to where her three guests were standing.

"Enough!" Susan demanded. "We intend no harm upon your daughter. What must we do to convince you of this?"

"How about getting the hell out of this hotel before you cause any more trouble?" Jackie answered. She then yanked Rose's arm and said, "Come along with me, sweetheart. I'm going to take you somewhere where you'll remain safe forever."

Rose struggled to break free from her mother's grasp. "Let go of me!" she yelled.

"No, darling. I can't let you go even if I wanted to!" Jackie said, laughing hysterically.

Then, right before Rose's eyes, her long blonde hair turned into a dark bob, while her nightgown became a gorgeous evening gown. She was no longer Jackie Tyler, but Peggy, the unruly American woman from the New Year's Eve party who became one of the hotel's first victims.

Rose started shaking with fear. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "And if I wasn't seeing my mummy, then where is she? Do you have her hidden away somewhere?"

"Oh, little girls. No matter what era they're in, they always have wild imaginations," Peggy said. "The littlest thing that goes wrong can have them crying over monsters or other ridiculous fantasies they come up with in their heads."

"But the imagination can also prepare girls to consider all possibilities when facing a problem," Victoria said. "While others may just notice whatever's before their eyes, imaginative children can see beyond what's in front of them and become aware of something the more logical amongst us tend to overlook."

Peggy laughed wickedly. "And how many times have such tendencies benefitted children in any way? Can you or your friend ever think of a time when your imagination won over more logical conclusions?"

At the mention of this, Victoria smiled and winked at Rose. Then, facing Peggy with her best schoolteacher expression, she said, "Well, when I was in my teens, I had the misfortune of having lost my father to a species of aliens known as the Deleks. The man who managed to rescue me claimed to have traveled across time and space using a machine that was bigger on the inside than the outside. At first, this notion seemed ridiculous to me, and I laughed at everything he suggested to me. But then, I thought back on some of the stories I'd read over the years where characters faced situations that were certainly out of the ordinary, like in _Gulliver's Travels, Frankenstein,_ and _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland._ I used to go over what happened in those stories in my mind and imagine what it would be like for myself I had been the character, and if I would have done anything differently than they did. So when this man made these wild claims, I told myself to remember all those stories and consider the possibility that I might be stepping into my own adventure for once, taking on the role of those characters I grew to love and care about so much. And by reminding myself of this, I kept my mind open and prepared myself for all those frightening situations I was soon to face."

Peggy shook her head, obviously not impressed with Victoria's story. "And here I was thinking that being murdered by a phantom in a haunted hotel was some crazy notion I'd gotten into my mind. It's nonsense you must have taken out of a Verne or Wells story for all I'm concerned. If there really are time travelers in this world, then how come I never met one when I was young?"

"Well, you're looking at a Time Lady right now, miss," Susan said with a proud smile. "And let me just say that when I was little, human beings seemed as much a fantasy to me as time travelers seem to you."

"Oh, please don't make things sound even more crazy than they already are," Peggy said, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe you can start making things less crazy by just telling me where my mummy is," Rose said.

"I don't think I need to answer that for you, dear. Just look around you and you might figure out where you can find her," Peggy answered.

Rose took careful notice of the room once again, and became aware from looking out the window that instead of seeing the sky all sunny and clear as before, it was now dark purple and showing traces of stars. And from outside of the room, she could hear the exact same jazz music she'd heard in the party from 1924, instead of the old rock songs that were sometimes heard through the loud speakers.

"So, she's back in the party from 1924?" she asked.

"Of course, you stupid girl. It should have been obvious to you the moment you saw this room," Peggy said.

"But it looks exactly like…"

"Those bothersome twins gave me some insight into how the rooms are looking during your time, and trust me, they're nowhere as beautiful and refreshing to the senses as they were in my day, which happens to be right now, of course," Peggy said. "I mean, just stop for a while and smell the place, feel how fresh and soft the blankets and curtains are, taste those biscuits that…"

"She sounds as if she's lost her mind," Victoria whispered to Susan.

"She's probably had it lost ever since her awful death," Susan said. "But how about we take advantage of this rambling of hers and have Rose make a run for the ballroom?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Victoria said. Then, nudging Rose's shoulder, she said, "Rose, how about we try getting out of this scary room and go over to the ballroom to find your mother."

"But what if the room is locked up?" Rose asked.

"From what I can see, the door seems to have been left ajar," Susan said, gesturing over to the half open door with a smile. "Peggy clearly wasn't thinking over how we could leave her sight in her eagerness to possibly haunt us."

Rose chuckled, and started sprinting towards the exit while Peggy continued on with her overly dramatic monologue over how wonderful the hotel was now in comparison to its' lifeless state in the future. Victoria followed her, with Susan agreeing to keep an eye on Peggy so that she wouldn't come up with more mischief.

As they walked through the lobby, Victoria said, "She's right about one thing, Rose; Northern Horizons really does look much more beautiful now."

"I guess so," Rose said, not willing to admit that it truly was different. The dark red paint which took up much of the walls looked fresh and lovely, vastly different from the cracked or else sickly white walls that could be seen in 1992. There were also several paintings and adornments hanging in there, including various of flowers and landscapes, several of dancers which Rose recalled seeing at a museum over a year ago, and the picture of a woman that was in place at the present.

Looking at Victoria, Rose could sense that she was trying not to let how nervous she was become obvious to her. However, she couldn't stop thinking about how all the times she'd thought of traveling back in time, she'd never imagined it would be under such haunting circumstances, and that she was experiencing the 1920s in this manner made it seem more like a nightmare than the fulfillment of a dream.

Strangely enough, Victoria now noticed what Rose was doing, and said, "Can't help noticing how I'm feeling when I'm finally time traveling again, can't you, dear?"

Rose blushed. "I'm sorry. Am I making you nervous?"

"No. I don't have a problem with it at all, actually. It seems to me that your mind-reading abilities tend to be at work when you least expect them. Do you have any control over when you want to use them?"

"I don't think so," Rose admitted. "I may have been able to do it a few times, but not always when I really want to."

"I see," Victoria said with a nod. Noticing the sound of the jazz music getting louder and closer to their direction, she then said, "I suppose we're getting closer to the ballroom now."

"We are," Rose said, immediately noticing the yells of delight in addition to the music.

For a moment, Victoria was excited despite the situation, wondering if the parties of the 1920s were as extravagant as those in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels, which had increased much of her curiosity about the decade back when she was at university for the first time. Even as she noticed the fear in Rose's face, she figured that at least this wouldn't be as frightening as seeing Peggy duplicating herself as Jackie Tyler had been.

But the moment she was through the door, her excitement almost instantly faded away. Yes, everyone in there looked as gleeful as could be, and the music sounded just as good as the small record collection of twenties jazz which she owned. However, that was all you could see in the ballroom, happiness and music. Some guests were drinking themselves away, erupting in wild laughter at the most insignificant comments their friends would make, while others mingled with every person within sight, trying too hard to appear sophisticated and polite, but seeming rather insecure and pitiful to Victoria. You could tell these people would be forgotten by the other guests the moment the party was over, if it ever did end, of course.

"Victoria?" she heard Rose asking as she desperately nudged her shoulder.

"What is it?" Victoria asked.

"Mummy's over there, and so is Peggy."

And she was right. Jackie was almost unrecognizable, wearing a white ballgown and with her hair in a bun, but she was there all the same, swinging around the ballroom with a handsome red-haired man. She was laughing and chatting away as much as the other party guests, but you still got the air that there was something even more unnatural about the way she was feeling than anyone else in there. Not only could she not remain quite for an instant, but she seemed to trust the man she was with way too much, as if she'd been her boyfriend for many years as opposed to someone she'd just met.

Most shocking of all, Peggy was there as well, standing along with a group of friends and downing a glass of wine within seconds. She actually turned to look at Victoria and Rose when they entered the ballroom, but she didn't show any sign of recognition or menace upon seeing them, instead turning back to her friends, shrugging, and saying, "Isn't it odd how this party seems to keep getting fuller in such a short period of time? Just five minutes ago, I think there were only twenty people here, and now it's as if word spread about our party and everyone's feeling free to come in whenever they please."

"Hasn't the manager heard anything about regulations?" one of her companions asked.

"I think he might actually be the one permitting this, from what I've heard about him," another companion said.

Victoria shook her head in confusion upon noticing this. "If Peggy's here right now, then does that mean…?"

"Actually, I think she might still be in the room with Susan right now. It could be that her good side remains in the party like always, while her bad side's the one that goes around haunting people," Rose said.

"Just where do you get these ideas from?" Victoria asked, amazed at the ideas she could come up with.

"From movies and stories. Like you said before, kids' imaginations really do help them figure things out sometimes," Rose replied.

"Good to know that I've been proven right," Victoria said. "Now, what are you thinking of doing now?"

"We have to make Mummy what's really happening. Because if we don't, she might become a part of this party for good," Rose said, preparing to run over to her mother's side.

"But Rose, don't try taking action too quickly," Victoria said, grabbing Rose's arm. "You don't know if you might run into twice as much…"

But it was too late to stop her. Rose immediately sprinted over to her mother's side, yelling, "Mummy, it's me, Rose! Stop trying to have too much fun here! None of this is supposed to be real!"

While the duplication of Jackie from upstairs had tried too hard to make it seem like she knew Rose, this version of Jackie was dumbstruck upon seeing her. "Excuse me? What is it that you want, little girl?" she asked.

"Don't you recognize me, Mummy? I'm Rose!" Rose yelled, looking deeply panicked.

"Oh, dear. Is this another case like that of the twins?" Jackie responded, not once suspecting that this was her daughter.

"What's going on here, Jackie?" the man she'd been dancing with asked.

"This is very unusual. This girl is claiming to be my daughter, just as these strange twins kept telling me they'd died in this hotel," Jackie said.

"But didn't you just tell me that you had a daughter?" the man asked.

"I do, but she's at home right now, with no idea that I'm here," Jackie said, sounding much more confusing as she was speaking.

"But we live here right now, Mummy! Please don't tell me that you've forgotten everything about yourself!" Rose said.

"I've forgotten nothing about myself, child. I'm a young woman born in the late 1890s who had the misfortune of being widowed in 1919, several months after my daughter Rose was born. This insistence from you and your friends that I'm from the future must stop. Absolutely no one finds these types of jokes funny," Jackie said, speaking so naturally that Rose immediately understood what'd just happened:

Her mother had made herself believe that she was a part of this world.


End file.
